Swim Drink Fish Blog
Read the latest updates and news releases about community science, water monitoring, Artists for Water, and more.
MEDIA ADVISORY: Toronto artists contribute to water-themed charity art show on World Water Day
Waterkeeper is hosting an Art Preview event Tuesday, March 22nd at CONTACT Gallery. Some of the biggest culture-makers in Toronto are expected to attend in support of Waterkeeper.
A plea for the water at your feet
March 22 is “World Water Day,” the international day to think about water issues. It is also the first-ever meeting of the Great Lakes Guardians Council, a new advisory group created under the Great Lakes Protection Act. And we're honoured that Waterkeeper Mark Mattson has been invited by Ontario Minister of the Environment and Climate Change Glen Murray to participate.
Annual Waterkeeper Gala and Art Auction returns to Toronto, April 21 (Press Release)
Star-studded charity gala returns to the CBC building as McKeil Marine becomes new presenting sponsor of the prestigious fundraiser for swimmable, drinkable, fishable water. Waterkeeper Mark Mattson and gala co-chairs Blair McKeil (McKeil Marine), Kathy McKeil (McKeil Marine) and Susan Schaefer (Corus Entertainment) have announced that the 5th Annual Waterkeeper Gala Toronto will take place Thursday, April 21, 2016.
Ontario’s ever growing heap of high-level nuclear waste
Ontario has a growing amount of extremely radioactive waste. And the plans for Pickering, Darlington, and Bruce will mean more waste will continue to accumulate on our freshwater shores for decades to come. In a time when there is more promotion for nuclear because it's “green,” why isn’t Canada’s nuclear waste problem discussed more often; by government, the regulator, or the media?
Waterkeeper's comment on proposed federal microbeads regulations, March 2016
The Federal Government is currently developing regulations to eliminate the use of microbeads in personal care products. In February, the government made its proposed regulations available to the public for comment. Lake Ontario Waterkeeper, Ottawa Riverkeeper, Fraser Riverkeeper and North Saskatchewan Riverkeeper submitted joint comments on the proposed regulations. Read them here.
Can the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission do better?
If you’ve followed some of our previous work, you know that Waterkeeper questions whether the CNSC effectively serves the public as an impartial regulator. Today, Lake Ontario Waterkeeper is joining Greenpeace Canada, Ecojustice, the Canadian Environmental Law Association and others in calling on Prime Minister Trudeau to initiate a twenty year review of the Nuclear Safety and Control Act.
Trudeau must strengthen federal nuclear safety law say environmentalists (Media Release)
In the run-up to the fifth anniversary of the Fukushima disaster, over a dozen environmental groups are asking Prime Minister Trudeau to strengthen Canada’s key nuclear safety law to address weaknesses exposed by the Fukushima disaster and public concern regarding the independence of the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC).
The Watermark Project
Water is more than a necessity for keeping us alive, it is the thread that holds us together as a country. And that thread is best seen in our stories about being on, in or around water. That is why we created the Watermark Project: to collect and archive Canadian water stories to demonstrate why swimmable drinkable fishable water matters.
Charity using technology and storytelling to protect Canadian waters, launches new online archive called "Watermark Project" (Press Release)
Canadians can now register their favourite waterbody and share a story that will help protect waterways for generations to come, thanks to a new online archive created by Waterkeeper.
Asking Canadian and U.S. federal governments to jointly monitor radionuclides in the Great Lakes
Waterkeeper is one of over 100 organizations from around the Great Lakes who are calling on the Canadian and American governments to list radionuclides as a “chemical of mutual concern” under the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement (2012). A new report by the Canadian Environmental Law Association outlines the shortcomings of current efforts to track radionuclides and explains what changes needs to be done to monitor these radioactive discharges in the Great Lakes.