1. Alberta’s groundwater risk assessment – filling in the gap

2. Battling gravel goliaths

3. What does Kennedy know about mercury in Alberta's fish?

Alberta’s groundwater risk assessment – filling in the gap

A report from Alberta Environment, Groundwater Risk Assessment for Alberta (2008), suggests that a lack of knowledge about groundwater hampers the provincial government's ability to address water allocation issues and that some southern municipalities could be at risk for groundwater supply. The report identified risks related to groundwater use and ranked them according to their potential level of occurrence and impact. The study results were based on feedback from 121 survey respondents and over 50 participants in five workshops representing a wide variety of interests including: government (federal, provincial and municipal), First Nations and Métis Settlements, industry, agriculture, energy, stewardship groups and academia.

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Battling gravel goliaths

Patricia Fish, a mother from Lac Ste Anne, never imagined she would be a community leader. In fact, she never imagined she would be sitting in cold dimly lit building with others like her fighting to protect their community. The volume of the conversation in the room increased. People were frustrated with what was happening to their communities.

Patricia Fish raised her voice "I see this is as a gift because if I wasn't doing this work, I wouldn't be securing clean water for my children." Three years ago, Patricia had just moved to Lac Ste Anne, seeking the rural Alberta countryside. Instead, she discovered her neighbourhood would be right beside a gravel pit mine for the next 15 to 30 years.

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What does Kennedy know about mercury in Alberta's fish?

At a January fundraiser in Banff, Robert F. Kennedy suggested that 90 percent of Alberta's fish are unsafe to eat, inciting controversy across Alberta. In subsequent interviews, Kennedy clarified that he was talking about mercury in fish. Kennedy's Waterkeeper Alliance organization has an international campaign dedicated to highlighting the impacts of mercury to human health and fish. They are seeking to clean up sources of air borne mercury such as from coal-fired power plants.

Water Matters decided to investigate this comment to better understand the issue of mercury in fish in Alberta.

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