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What is ActionH20?

ActionH2O seeks to harness a grassroots collective effort to develop new conservation and efficiency-based approaches to water management that are adopted by local governments. This bottom-up effort has HUGE potential to change how water is managed across the whole country! The goal of ActionH2O is to work with 20 cities and towns across Canada over the next 1½ years to identify locally relevant solutions and opportunities for action on water conservation. Using “How To” handbooks and primers, cutting-edge research, a Water Sustainability Charter Toolkit, and a unique visual-based resource that outlines the full application of best water practices called "Canada’s Bluest City", and the ingenuity of grassroots groups across the country, ActionH2O will bring a comprehensive suite of water conservation planning and action resources to the doors of Canadian communities.

Latest Posts

Thank you and have a happy holiday!

This is my last blog of the year so I want to begin by sincerely thanking you for being part of the most exciting year of my campaigning career. In 2011 we probably had one of highest participation rates for email campaigns in all of Canada. Again, thank you.

Today I want to tell you about a disturbing pattern emerging in the public dialogue on environmental issues that has the potential to do significant damage to the environmental movement and our ability to positively influence public opinion. Influencing public opinion, after all, is how we have achieved the great change in how the natural environment is viewed and treated, so it’s important to understand what is happening.... Read more »

Fukushima fallout hit Canada

After the Fukushima nuclear accident, Canadian health officials assured a nervous public that virtually no radioactive fallout had drifted to Canada.

But last March, a Health Canada monitoring station in Calgary detected an average of 8.18 becquerels per litre of radioactive iodine (an isotope released by the nuclear accident) in rainwater, the data shows.

The level easily exceeded the Canadian guideline of six becquerels of iodine per litre for drinking water, acknowledged Eric Pellerin, chief of Health Canada's radiation-surveillance division.

"It's above the recommended level (for drinking water)," he said in an interview. "At any time you sample it, it should not exceed the guideline."

Canadian authorities didn't disclose the high radiation reading at the time.
... Read more »

Avoiding fracking earthquakes: expensive venture


(Reuters) - With mounting evidence linking hundreds of small earthquakes from Oklahoma to Ohio to the energy industry's growing use of fracking technology, scientists say there is one way to minimize risks of even minor temblors.

Only, it costs about $10 million a pop.

A thorough seismic survey to assess tracts of rock below where oil and gas drilling fluid is disposed of could help detect quake prone areas.

But that would be far more costly than the traditional method of drilling a bore hole, which takes a limited sample of a rock formation but gives no hint of faults lines or plates.

The more expensive method will be a hard sell as long as irrefutable proof of the link between fracking and earthquakes remains elusive.
... Read more »

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Canadian producers keep wary eye on U.S. fracking probe

Canadian oilpatch insiders are keeping a wary eye on potential changes to U.S. natural gas drilling regulations after an environmental agency reported industry activity was the likely culprit tainting drinking water in Wyoming.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency draft report on contaminated water in the tiny hamlet of Pavillion released Thursday was immediately disputed by oilpatch supporters as inconclusive and hailed as a call to arms by environmental groups.

The bigger question for companies involved in drilling and fracturing was how politicians south of the border would react, given already vocal public opposition to the technology in New York, Pennsylvania and several other states.

... Read more »

What the frack! How long before Canadian regulators wake-up?

Media Release, Nov. 8, 2011

Voir version française ci-dessous

OTTAWA – Sierra Club Canada is calling for a nation-wide moratorium on fracking (hydraulic fracturing) by the natural gas industry until federal and provincial governments can put in place proper regulations to ensure public safety and protect water supplies and the environment.

“If reports of natural gas infiltrating drinking water wells on properties neighbouring fracking operations wasn’t enough reason to act, then recent earthquakes in Britain should be,” said John Bennett, Executive Director of Sierra Club Canada. “What will it take for Canadian regulators to wake-up?”... Read more »

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