Engineering projects said to be threatening major rivers

The top five rivers in Canada under threat and in need of protection were listed by the Sierra Club Canada in June. The five were the Mackenzie River, NWT, said to be under threat from the Mackenzie Gas Pipeline project. The Athabasca River in Alberta, said to be threatened by the overuse and contamination from tar sands production, “which is sucking a mind boggling 1 billion litres … from the Athabasca River every day,” the St. Lawrence River in Ontario and Quebec, said to be under threat of diversions from the Great Lakes and pressures of urban development; the Romaine River in Quebec, said to be threatened by Hydro Quebec’s plans for a hydroelectricity complex; and the Flathead river in B.C., a prospective national park area, “being threatened by coal and methane extraction projects.”