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Manitoba's Flood Picture Remains Challenging

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Manitoba News Release - May 8, 2011 - FLOOD BULLETIN #38 - Manitoba Water Stewardship reports: *    A three-day unstable weather system is expected to bring widespread rain ranging from 20 to 50 millimetres across the entire southern Manitoba watershed.  The Assiniboine River, just below the Shellmouth Dam. Due to recent rain, soils have a reduced capacity to retain water and any further rain will likely run off into streams and rivers.  *Communities along the Assiniboine River between Portage la Prairie and Headingley are advised that water levels along the river will be increasing in approximately two to four days.  The unprecedented flows are a result of last week's weekend storm, the timing of the melt from the storm and additional rainfall forecast for this week.   *Water levels on the Assiniboine River at the First Street Bridge in Brandon are 1,182.17 ft., an increase of 0.87 ft. since yesterday.  *    Protective dikes in Brandon are being raised another t

Evacuations Possible in Brandon Due to Rising River

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Winnipeg Free Press - 05/6/2011 Faulty gauge led to innaccurate water level readings. Details here. Water thunders over the Shellmouth Dam spillway, upstream of Brandon in late April, with the reservoir behind it at near capacity. (l.p. photo)

Probe Demanded After Worst Alberta Oil Spill in Four Decades

 By Darcy Henton, Calgary Herald May 5, 2011 Read more here.

An Update on Manitoba's & Saskatchewan's (Climate-Spawned?) Flooding

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-by Larry Powell In the community of Eriksdale, north of Winnipeg, flooding is now threatening homes, the hospital and personal care home.  A farm home near Yorkton, SK, isolated by floodwaters. A flood warning is in effect for the Dauphin Lake Basin, including Parkland and the Duck Mountains, especially once the snow melts & there's lots of that yet to come. Runoff from Riding Mountain has already increased the flows of the Valley, Vermillion and Ochre Rivers significantly. The Turtle River has risen by over a meter (4 ft) since Monday!  Runoff from both the "Ducks" and Riding Mountain are adding significantly to the flow of the Assiniboine River. Because of a swollen Assiniboine, points downstream, St. Lazare, Brandon, Portage and Winnipeg are still under a continuous and prolonged flood watch. Conditions on the Assiniboine have been affected by the same blizzard and heavy rains which struck a wide area last weekend. The huge Lake of the Prairies near th

UN Targets Widely-Used Pesticide Endosulfan for Phase-Out

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Geneva, 3 May 2011   Representatives from 127 Governments meeting in Geneva last week agreed to add endosulfan to the United Nations' list of persistent organic pollutants to be eliminated worldwide. Details here.

Voting System Cheats Canadians Again - Fair Vote Canada

Fair Vote Canada - May 3, 2011   Canada’s national citizens’ movement for voting reform has released an analysis of Tuesday’s federal election results showing that the outcome does not accurately reflect the way Canadians voted.  Details here.

A Small Step Forward

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by Larry Powell  Last winter, I asked CBC Manitoba to start announcing atmospheric C02 levels on their weathercasts. (See "CBC Manitoba Thinks Nothing Can Be Done About Climate Change!) C02 levels cause global warming, melting ice caps and glaciers, rising sea levels, droughts, floods, blizzards, tornadoes, cyclones, hurricanes, and ice storms. Safe levels are 350 ppm or below. They have already been way above that for some time. At the time of my request, the CBC said it would be "inflammatory" to announce such levels.  But I finally did convince their broadcast meteorologist,  John Sauder, to place a link to C02 atmospheric levels on his website, "John Sauder's Forecast."  (Lower left.) Thank you, John! You have done the public a real service! l.p.