Wednesday marks World Water Day, a day raising awareness of the more than 2 billion people around the world living without access to safe water, including many First Nations communities in Canada. The federal government says 138 long-term drinking water advisories have been lifted since November 2015, although some short-term boil water advisories have also slipped into the long-term category during that timeframe.

Almost three years after a major Saskatchewan irrigation project was announced, the head of a group representing rural municipalities says the provincial government should "get on" with it — while an organization that represents First Nations says the province should have consulted with those communities more. But where is the Lake Diefenbaker project now?

A high school student from a First Nation in northern Saskatchewan is representing Indigenous communities on the world stage. Sean Bernard, a Grade 12 student from Waterhen Lake First Nation, about 290 kilometres northwest of Saskatoon, is in Egypt this week to attend COP27, the United Nations Climate Change Conference. Bernard is a youth delegate, representing the youth of the world as well as Indigenous communities across North America.

Today, Saskatchewan communities and eligible organizations may start submitting funding applications for proposed water, wastewater and other projects under the last intake in the province for the Investing in Canada Infrastructure Program (ICIP). “We encourage applicants to provide their project submissions as early as they are able to so communities can put shovels in the ground as soon as possible," Government Relations Minister Don McMorris said. “Our provincial government will continue to invest in infrastructure to create jobs, position communities for growth and continue to build a stronger Saskatchewan.”

Seven homes on the Muscowpetung Saulteaux Nation, approximately 65 kilometres northeast of Regina, were recently evacuated after floodwater from a nearby stream moved in earlier this week. It came after over 100 millimetres of rain fell in the area late Monday and through the day Tuesday. Jim Pratt, an emergency coordinator for the First Nation, told CBC the heavy rain filled the stream with water. When it began backing up at culverts running underneath Township Road 210 — a gravel road upstream from Muscowpetung — it started running over the road. The road and culverts eventually gave way.