Keyword
Drinking Water
Faster, cheaper, test for E. coli in drinking water
Researchers at the University of Waterloo invent solution that uses paper strips, similar to those in litmus tests, to identify deadly E. coli.
U.S. water and wastewater industry prepares for Ebola
The American Water Works Association (AWWA) is holding a webinar about risks and precautions that drinking water and wastewater operations should take regarding the Ebola virus.
Ontario announces infrastructure funds for small communities
Ontario’s Premier Kathleen Wynne announced this week that applications were open for a $100-million new Ontario Community Infrastructure Fund.
New Products Round-up
WATER TREATMENT
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INFRASTRUCTURE RE-USED
Halton Region is undergoing a series of infrastructure initiatives to service population and employment growth to the year 2021. One of these initiatives is a strategic watermain that conveys Lake Ontario water from the Burloak and Burlington…
Report says that municipalities should charge user fees for infrastructure
A report by the School of Public Policy at the University of Calgary says that if Canada is going to pay for its aging infrastructure, Canadian authorities “will simply have to expand the use of user fees.”
B.C. regulates groundwater and revamps water management
The British Columbia Minister of the Environment, Mary Polak, has introduced a new Water Sustainability Act. The province expects the law to be brought into effect early in 2015.
Products
STRUCTURES
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Projects in small towns: Quinte Courthouse, St. Anne Hospital, Corner Brook Water Treatment Plant
Halsall Associates was the structural engineer, TMP were mechanical engineers, and Hidi Rae were the electrical engineers for WZMH Architects on the new Quinte Courthouse that opened in August in downtown Belleville, southern Ontario. The new,…
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AWARD OF EXCELLENCE / WATER RESOURCES Exshaw Municipal Water System
Juror Comments: “We appreciated this project because it has changed the quality of life in an existing town with the use of local resources.”
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AWARD OF EXCELLENCE / WATER RESOURCES Lorne Park Water Treatment Plant Expansion
AECOM, in partnership with
Brown water upsets Winnipegers
People in Winnipeg are upset that their water has been frequently discoloured and brown over this summer. A CBC report said that the city is investigating and that it is citing a range of factors, from water main breaks to drier than normal…
Boil water advisory in Montreal caused partly by old pump
Montreal suffered its largest boil-water advisory ever in its history at the end of May after its historic Atwater water treatment plant malfunctioned. The plant, which opened in 1918 and continues to service large portions of the city, is…
Products
WASTEWATER
This is Public Works Week in Canada
This week, May 19 to 25, is Public Works Week in Canada. Organized by the Canadian Public Works Association, the event has municipalities providing open houses, tours and school events to display public works facilities and equipment.
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Clean-up of Saint John Harbour wins one of ACEC-New Brunswick awards
The Association of Consulting Engineering Companies – New Brunswick (ACEC-NB) held its annual awards gala on April 10 in Fredericton. Five projects won Awards for Engineering Excellence out of 14 nominees.
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Top award from ACEC-BC goes to guide for making schools safer
It’s not a bridge … it’s not a building … it’s not an environmental remediation. This year the kind of engineering that goes on largely in the background rather than having a big physical profile has won the Association of Consulting…
CH2M HILL issues water infrastructure asset management report
CH2M HILL in the U.S. has released a study, “Water Infrastructure Asset Management: Adopting Best Practices to Enable Better Investments.” Conducted in partnership with McGraw-Hill Construction the study found that the use of an…
Body found in Los Angeles hotel water tanks
After guests at a Los Angeles hotel complained about water pressure and a foul taste of the water, the hotel investigated and found a corpse in one of its rooftop water cisterns. The body was identified as a Canadian woman who had…
Company News Round-Up: Stephenson, Dillon, Urban Systems, AMEC, Alten Group
Stephenson Engineering, structural engineers of Toronto, has opened an office in Calgary. The office will be run by Pat Romerman who recently joined the company as a principal. He has 25 years in the Alberta market.
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Landmark water tanks get new life in Edmonton
Renovation of two large, above-ground EPCOR Utilities water reservoirs will extend the lives of these Edmonton landmarks a quarter century or more. The makeovers, involving primarily coating the inside walls of two 60-feet-high concrete tanks…
Tech Notes: sites and environmental tools; pump intake design standard
EcoLog ERIS has replaced its legacy mapping system with Esri’s enterprise geographic information system (GIS) technology. EcoLog ERIS produces on-demand research services for property sites and neighbouring areas indicating…
Products
CAD
Negligent water treatment plant operator goes to jail
With echoes of Walkerton, a water treatment plant operator in southwest Ontario has been sentenced to 30 days in jail for falsifying records.
Personal liability for water treatment plants in effect in Ontario
New rules came into effect in Ontario on December 31 that make those with decision-making authority over drinking water systems personally liable for their safe operation.
Environmental clean-ups get $29 million in funding in Central Ontario
The Canadian government has announced that $29 million in funding is available over five years for environmental clean-up projects in the Lake Simcoe and South-Eastern Georgian Bay areas of Central Ontario.
Cost of repairing municipal roads – $7,000 per household
More than half of municipal roads are “falling apart,” and one in four roads is over capacity and handling more traffic than it was designed to, according to a survey of 120 municipalities. The cost of replacing the inferior roads was estimated…
Halifax engineers share tips on controlling water leaks with Shanghai delegation
Six Chinese officials representing the massive state-owned Qingcaosha Raw Water Project in Shanghai met with senior managers at the consulting engineering firm CBCL Limited in Halifax on August 14.
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Let the Waters Flow
The YouTube video closes with a shot of a little boy standing in the narrow corridor of a construction trailer, crying and alone. He pushes against the wall and stares into the camera with hopeless eyes.
Comment – First Nations still struggle with inadequate infrastructure
Anyone who read the federal government’s report published in July last year knows that the situation is dire. As reported in “Let the Waters Flow,” (p. 20), the National Assessment of First Nations Water and Wastewater…
