Nova Scotia Department of Environment
1894 Barrington Street, 18th Floor B3J 2P8 Halifax, NS, Canada

More than 40% of Nova Scotia households get their drinking water from their own private wells. Well water should be tested regularly for bacteria and chemical contaminants. Learn more at https://novascotia.ca/well-water-testing/

On Sunday October 18, Rural Water Watch will be hosting it's first Healthy Wells Day. Have questions about your well? Tune in live to hear from Hydrogeologist Gordon Check from Nova Scotia Environment.

Today government announced the addition of 10 more designated protected areas. This includes five wilderness areas, three nature reserves and two new provincial parks. Two of the areas will be recognized with Mi’kmaw names. Read more at https://novascotia.ca/news/release/?id=20201014003

Planning a turkey dinner for Thanksgiving? Do you know how to tell when it’s cooked? How about safely storing the leftovers? Food safety is part of our mandate, so we’re offering information to help you make sure nobody gets sick. Making sure it’s delicious? That part’s up to you. https://novascotia.ca//food-prot/docs/factsheet-turkey.pdf And this year remember: COVID isn’t welcome at Thanksgiving dinner! Try to keep the guest list to a consistent social group of 10. Have one person serve the food rather than passing dishes around. Maybe let them off the hook for dish duty?

The Plastic Bags Reduction Act takes effect on October 30th, 2020. That means businesses will no longer be able to provide single-use plastic shopping bags at the checkout. We wanted to check to ensure we had the most up to date advice from Public Health, and Dr. Strang and his team. We have been advised that it is safe to use reusable shopping bags. Nova Scotians have told us they want our province to continue taking steps to be a leader in waste reduction, and that is what we will do. For more information visit novascotia.ca/single-use-plastic-bag-ban/