‘Tis the season of giving and this year we are offering our supporters the opportunity to give the gift of a swimmable drinkable fishable future to their friends and loved ones. With your help, we will move more people to know and safeguard their local waters by creating platforms based on law, science, education, and communications technology. 2017 Gift Options:  Each year we respond to nearly 100 pollution reports around the Great Lakes. On top of…

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‘Tis the season of giving and this year we are offering our supporters the opportunity to give the gift of a swimmable drinkable fishable future to their friends and loved ones. With your help, we will move more people to know and safeguard their local waters by creating platforms based on law, science, education, and communications technology. 2017 Gift Options:  Each year we respond to nearly 100 pollution reports around the Great Lakes. On top of…

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Woodbine Beach. Photo by: Josh Evnin On November 5 2017, 30 ducks and one heron were found dead at Woodbine Beach in Toronto. After weeks of investigating, the Canadian Wildlife Health Cooperative reports that Type E botulism is the likely culprit for the bird deaths.What is botulism?Botulism is a neuromuscular disease that causes paralysis. Birds get it when they ingest a toxin produced by the bacteria Clostridium botulinum. They tend to ingest it by unknowingly…

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Swim Drink Fish Canada is looking for a methodical researcher with a passion for the Great Lakes to compile information about the lakes for a new web project.The researcher will compile historical and ecological information about the Great Lakes watershed based on a set of questions provided by Swim Drink Fish Canada. Information will be found on the web, in books(!), and/or from subject-matter experts identified by the researcher. All sources must be documented, because…

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Photo: Swim Drink Fish Canada Waterkeeper"Peel Region released partially treated sewer water into Lake Ontario twice in 2017"Roger Belgrave, Brampton Guardian, November 23, 2017“Sewage bypasses are becoming all too common in Lake Ontario communities,” [Mark Mattson] said. In Toronto there have been 23 bypasses in 2017, he noted, that is more than double the previous year.“It is becoming a basic rule that people should start thinking about water quality, like the weather, as something that…

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More than twenty years ago, Canada and the United States pledged to restore and protect Great Lakes water quality. After years of progress—and setbacks—the two countries asked an independent agency to look at their efforts and report to the public.This week, the first report came out. The reviews are mixed, though the main message is clear: the two countries need to do more, urgently, or the lakes will decline.The First Triennial Assessment Of Progress On…

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Photo by Ruby Pajares. Cold weather has arrived in southern Ontario, and though there hasn’t been too much snow or freezing rain yet, that other indication of lower temperatures has arrived: salt. Sidewalks are already being covered with salt and it’s only going to get worse seeing how much people seem to use these days.And it’s understandable. Salt does an amazing job melting ice and preventing falling snow from accumulating.Unfortunately, salt has some real negative…

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On this website and on Swim Guide, we provide the opportunity for people to report pollution they see while they are on or around the water. Over the last year we have received 142 reports, ranging anywhere from trash on a beach to a major spill. We thank everyone who has sent us reports. They are invaluable sources of information.We still encourage everyone to send in reports, but we are now taking the next step…

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Port Hope Conversion Facility, October 2016. Last year, Lake Ontario Waterkeeper intervened in the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission’s (CNSC) hearing to consider Cameco’s application to renew its Fuel Facility Operating Licence for its Port Hope Conversion Facility.At that hearing, Waterkeeper raised a number of concerns with the facility’s environmental monitoring programs. Additionally, Waterkeeper drew the CNSC’s attention to the lack of publicly available information from Cameco about its environmental performance.As a result, the Commissioners invited…

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Aerial view of Humber Bay Treatment Plant after a rainstorm.  Massive amounts of rain fell on Toronto in one hour back in July, 2013. The deluge overwhelmed city infrastructure and knocked out power to at least one wastewater treatment plant. The city dumped more than 1-billion litres of raw sewage into Lake Ontario in a single day.Lake Ontario Waterkeeper responded to the flood by sampling recreational water spots around the city and working with local…

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