What better way to spend a summer day?!

In hip waders and with pens and paper in hand, Mi’kmaq technicians and scientists from Eskasoni, Membertou and Potlotek received Canadian Aquatic Biomonitoring Network (CABIN) training and certification by Environment Canada this summer.

CABIN assesses the condition of rivers. It is a national program for determining the biological health of Canada’s fresh water.

A long-term monitoring program for six rivers in the Bras d’Or Lakes watershed begins this fall.

Funding for training by Maritime and Northeast Pipeline.

Membertou Water Report

Potlotek Water Report

Wagmatcook Water Report

We’koqma’q Water Report

Representatives from the Centre for Indigenous Environmental Resources (CIER) visited UINR recently to talk about their plan to work with First Nations communities across Canada to help with the development of watershed plans and develop a watershed-planning tool to share across the country. First Nations have been developing watershed plans that are based on their needs, perspectives and knowledge. These plans are being used by First Nations to ensure safe and healthy First Nations’ managed watersheds.

CIER is a national, First Nations-directed environmental organization based in Winnipeg, Manitoba. It recognizes the need for Aboriginal peoples to have the capacity to solve environmental problems affecting their lands and resources. While in Cape Breton, CIER met with groups involved in watershed planning–Pitupaq, CEPI, the Eskasoni Watershed Planning Committee and the Potlotek Source Water Protection Plan. They found a strong commitment to collaboration between the municipalities and First Nations.

CIER has teamed up with leaders in the field: Hupacasath First Nation on Vancouver Island, the Mikisew Cree First Nation in Northern Alberta, and local groups in Cape Breton, UINR and the Union of Nova Scotia Indians, to develop and test a tool to assist communities in designing relevant and effective watershed plans.

In the upcoming months, CIER will be visiting other partners, discussing the ways that watershed planning is done in First Nations, and how they can transform that into a useful tool for First Nations. They will be returning to Cape Breton in the fall to share this knowledge

To learn more about this project or CIER, please visit its website at www.cier.ca.

The panel discussion took place June 11 at the Just Us! Café, 5896 Spring Garden Road  in Halifax.

Laurie joined a small panel of experts who presented, discussed and conversed with the audience around a single question that has a Nova Scotian focus.

The Nova Scotia Museum of Natural History partnered with the Canadian Museum of Nature and other museums across the country who hosted similar events. The same question was addressed at each of the events across the country, but the panelists attempted to respond to it in their own province’s context.

Directly following the event there was an online forum where the public could contribute their thoughts and opinions on the issue and concerns over water in Canada, and particularly Nova Scotia.

The Canadian Museum of Nature’s national Café Scientifique Water series offers Canadians the chance to immerse themselves in discussion about timely and relevant concerns relating to our greatest natural resource – Water. During Rivers to Oceans Week, June 8 to 12, 2009, Café Scientifique gatherings will take place at different sites across the country.  These relaxed, thought-provoking sessions – often held in a pub or restaurant- will be followed by an online forum to connect thoughts and opinions from interested Canadians coast to coast.

This programme is presented in partnership with the Alliance of Museums of Natural History of Canada (www.naturalhistorymuseums.ca).

Café Scientifique is a branch off of a grass roots academic movement called Café Philosophique. In 1992, a French philosopher named Marc Sautet began public discussions on philosophy in a small café called the Café des Phares in Paris. These discussions became a weekly event, where people from all backgrounds would gather to discuss a big question in the field of philosophy. The discussions opened the world of academia to the general public, and provided the provided the philosophers with new perspectives on the questions presented.

The world of science equally benefits from discussion between those in the realm of research and those from other backgrounds. In 1998, in Leeds UK, the idea of Café Scientifique was born. The objective of a Café Scientifique is to take big questions in science, ones for which there is active debate and no generally agreed upon answer, and discuss them in a comfortable, public location, providing access for everyone to have their say.

For the past six years, every week, Lorraine Marshall, Community Based Water Monitor, is on the road collecting drinking water samples from Wagmatcook, Membertou, Wacobah, and Potlotek. She even works through Christmas and holidays. As she puts it, “bacteria never take vacations!” First stop in Lorraine’s busy week is the lab in Eskasoni where she sets the two incubators to 35C. The incubators are used to bring the water samples to a temperature where, if there is bacteria present, it will grow.

Lorraine visits private homes, schools, health centres, apartments, and businesses in the four communities and collects water samples in sterile100ml bottles. After removing any filters and screens from the taps, she runs the water for a couple of minutes before taking her sample. She checks the chlorine content and turbidity (amount of siltation) on site and records the readings. Then it’s on to the next sampling site where she does it all over again. Some weeks, Lorraine is able to sample the sixteen sites in a single day, but often, it takes two.

The paperwork involved is stringent. Everything is recorded and double checked. Monitored by Health Canada, there are regular audits where Health Canada collects from the same sampling areas and checks that its results and Lorraine’s are the same. Records are always kept up-to-date.

Back in the lab in Eskasoni, the samples are recorded and put into sterile plastic containers that are broken up into small squares. They look like mini ice cube trays! Then it’s into the incubator that is set at 35C to mimic the temperature of our stomachs, the temperature that bacteria readily grows.

24 hours later tells the tale. If any of the squares turn yellow, a further test is done where the sample is viewed under blacklight. The colour change indicates that there are total coliforms or fecal coliforms present. Total coliforms could indicate anything organic in the water, including leaves or other debris. Fecal coliform is the presence of animal manure or human waste. That’s the stuff Lorraine hopes she’ll never find!

If the sample indicates the presence of fecal coliform, an alert is immediately sent to Health Canada. They sample the same site and if the results are the same, they issue an “Unsafe to Drink” order. Following the order, the site is sampled until it returns a clear reading and the order is lifted.

The good news is that, in Lorraine’s six years of sampling, there has never been a level that warranted a closure. She proudly says, “We have never had a boil order advisory.”

So, the next time you see the Water Lady in your community, you can thank her for making sure that the water you drink is safe and healthy.

From UINR Marten – Vol.4. Issue.2 – Summer 2008

In 1999, recognizing the importance of protecting the water source at Indian Lake, the Potlotek Watershed Protection Committee was formed.

Of concern is the fact that 40% of Potlotek’s watershed lies off reserve and, in addition, the close proximity of Route 104 to the watersource, and the location of the community sewage lagoon within the watershed.

Funding from Environment Canada and INAC was secured to develop the Potlotek Water Source Protection Plan.

From UINR Marten – Vol.3. Issue.1 – Spring 2007

In this new educational DVD from UINR, we learn what safeguards are in place in Unama’ki Mi’kmaq communities–Eskasoni, Membertou, Potlotek, Wagmatcook, and Waycobah.

Mi’kmaq scientists, technicians and elders are interviewed by our junior reporters in an informative news report format.

lorraine@uinr.ca

The Hydrographic Monitoring Program is targeted at areas in the Lakes that are inhabited by oysters, but the project gives us useful information to help evaluate impacts on other species. The information adds to our growing body of historical data documenting changing marine environments in the Bras d’Or Lakes. It helps in our research on invasive species and species at risk in the watershed.

UINR is responsible for both the program’s supervision and collection of the data. The weekly sampling and measurements will be carried out by the Unama’ki Natural Resource Officers, under each community’s Aboriginal Fisheries Strategy Agreement. Data is housed at UINR and shared with all participating communities and the Bedford Institute of Oceanography through the current SIMBOL (Science for the Integrated Management of the Bras d’Or Lakes) initiative.

Please help us to identify sources of oysters in your community for MSX sampling. These sampling periods are during the late spring and mid-fall.

Multiple sampling stations will be monitored in all five Unama’ki Mi’kmaq communities:

Potlotek (11 Stations)

Eskasoni (13 Stations)

Membertou (6 Stations)

Wagmatcook (14 Stations)

Waycobah (13 Stations)