Spring is finally here after a long, cold winter. We associate Spring time with new growth and renewal. Spring is also conference season...which is also a time for new growth and renewal.

Environment Canada is launching a scientific review to assess the effects of microbeads on the environment. A panel of experts will document future action on microbeads and announced the government has come up with an "innovative" chemicals management plan to prioritize microbeads for assessment.

An Order published in the March 21, 2015 edition of Canada Gazette Part 1 has announced a proposed Canada–Quebec Agreement on Acts and Regulations Applicable to the Quebec Municipal Wastewater Treatment Sector (proposed equivalency agreement).

The Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment posted online, March 30, 2015, a document Scientific Criteria Document for Public Review: Canadian Water Quality Guidelines for the Protection of Aquatic Life - Carbamazepine. Carbamazepine is a drug commonly prescribed as an antiepileptic, but is also used for the treatment of pain associated with trigeminal neuralgia.

The final guideline technical document of the Guidelines for Canadian Drinking Water Quality for toluene, ethylbenzene and the xylenes is now available on Health Canada's web site. CWWA commented on the guidelines when they were proposed, supporting the recommendations. There is also a wealth of background information on the substances and current research on their impacts which is an invaluable resource. The Guidelines are summarized below.

Ontario is proposing reforms to the Planning Act and the Development Charges Act that would give residents a greater say in how their communities grow and would provide more opportunities to fund community services like transit and recycling.

The Ontario government recently published amendments to the Ontario Water Resources Act Regulation. 525/98 to add to the list of activities exempt from obtaining an approval for sewage works.

Ontario’s Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change (MOECC) posted on the Environmental Registry, March 24, 2015, notice that the final version of A Guide for Drinking Water System Owners Seeking To Undertake a Backflow Prevention Program has been released.

Environment and Sustainable Resource Development (ESRD) and Alberta Health are collaborating on targeted consultation with key drinking-water stakeholders on regulations related to water quality and drinking-water operations. In particular, Alberta Health will be consulting with operators of small drinking-water systems to review proposed changes to the regulations governing systems under AR 243/2003 Nuisance and General Sanitation Regulation, pursuant to the Public Health Act.

The revision of ISO 14001, one of ISO’s most widely used standards, is now open for public comment (DIS stage), with an updated version due by the end of 2015.

CSA recently released CAN/CSA-ISO 37120.15 Sustainable development of communities - Indicators for city services and quality of life. The standard defines and establishes methodologies for a set of indicators to steer and measure the performance of city services and quality of life; follows the principles set out and can be used in conjunction with ISO 37101 Sustainable development in communities-Management systems - General principles and requirements and other strategic frameworks; and "is applicable to any city, municipality or local government that undertakes to measure its performance in a comparable and verifiable manner, irrespective of size and location".

Purchase the standard (PDF CAD $198.00):

The Standards Council of Canada (SCC) and ULC Standards are pleased to announce the development of a Joint National Standard for balloon-type ball backwater valves. The development of this joint Canada-U.S. standard is the first of its kind in the plumbing and heating sector.

This Workshop will feature Canadian and International experts on wastewater management and collection systems. It will explore the challenges of managing "flushable" products in the collection system - the consequences of flushing products not designed to pass through the collection and treatment systems, the needs to work with industry to develop better flushable products and strategies to influence consumer behaviour.

Browse a complete calendar of events hosted by CWWA and our member organizations.

The International Workshop on Water Reuse will feature leading international and Canadian experts from academia, industry and Government, deliberating on best practices, municipal & industrial reuse, treatment technologies, case studies, standards, regulations, management tools, health and environmental issues.

The proceeds from this Workshop will help support Canadian participation in standards development.

For more information on the Workshop, registration and sponsorship opportunities visit the CWWA website.

Phys.org
Leakages of nutrients necessary for food production – especially nitrogen and phosphorus – cause severe eutrophication to the Earth's aquatic ecosystems and promote climate change. However, this threat also hides an opportunity. An enhancement of the nutrient economy creates new business models and enables developing recycling technology into an export.

Engineering.com
Municipal water systems move large quantities of water through underground pipes. Why not use that flow to generate electricity? It seems obvious, but in most cases it’s not practical. That’s because many water systems use electric pumps to move water from an aquifer or reservoir to its customers. Putting a hydroelectric generator in the pipes would take energy away from the flow, so you’d need a more powerful pump to move the water. Thanks to the third law of thermodynamics, you’d lose more electricity with the larger pump than you would generate with the turbines. It’s a net-loss. Unless...

Mondaq.com
In 2013, damage from the growing number of extreme weather events resulted in insurance companies paying out a record $3.2 billion to Canadian policyholders. The June 2013 flooding that devastated southern Alberta was the largest and most expensive natural disaster in Canada's history. This resulted in insurance damage of $1.74 billion. On July 8, 2013, Toronto reported 126 millimetres of rain, breaking the previous single-day rainfall record for the city set by Hurricane Hazel in 1954. This flooding event was touted as the most expensive insured natural disaster in Ontario's history, resulting in $940 million in damages. These increasingly more common and costly weather events have forced both municipal and provincial governments to reconsider traditional stormwater management practices and re-evaluate stormwater infrastructure.

Cantechletter.com
In California, a drought that is entering its fourth year has led to the state’s first ever water restrictions. A year ago, governor Jerry Brown asked residents to voluntarily curb their water usage by 20%. But Californians ignored the warning.

Water Canada
The Province of British Columbia announced on March 31 measures to improve its resistance to invasive mussels with a $1.3-million investment in early detection and rapid response. Thus far, the province has not encountered any instances of invasive species infiltration, and it hopes the newly announced program will further bolster its defences against species like quagga and zebra mussels.

Water Canada
The federal government will contribute $1.7 million toward a proactive emergency response to potential spring flooding in eight at-risk New Brunswick First Nations after record snowfall this winter. In addition to the larger than normal snowpack on the ground, the snow possesses a higher than normal water content this year, making for an additionally dangerous potential snowmelt.

Water Canada
The Government of Newfoundland and Labrador's Department of Environment and Conservation recognized the work of municipal drinking water systems operators at its annual Clean and Safe Drinking Water Workshop, which took place this year in Gander from March 24 to 26.

Water Canada
With the release of the 2015 Canadian Water Attitudes Study on March 24, RBC and GlobeScan hosted a webinar on March 25 examining some of the study’s most intriguing insights. The webinar included commentary from GlobeScan co-CEO Chris Coulter, RBC’s Lynn Patterson, Canadian Water and Wastewater Association executive director Robert Haller, and Bob Sandford, chair of the Canadian Partnership Initiative UN Water for Life Decade.

CBC.ca
A Canadian social action organization opposing the Energy East pipeline says the project puts Winnipeg's drinking water supply at risk.

Pique News Magazine
Many of Western Canada's glaciers could be gone completely by the end of the century, according to a new study, but those in the Whistler area may survive.

OurWaterCounts.com
Consider this. By the time you finish reading this column, people will publish worldwide over 1.75 million tweets of up to 140 characters. During the same time, eight people will have died due to lack of clean water. The former is a technological marvel. The latter is a stark reminder that, despite humanity’s stunning innovations, we still have not conquered some of our most basic challenges.