Kristen Villebrun and Wendy Bush hoped they wouldn't have to pray for Chedoke Creek, but four years after they first raised alarm about the water's condition, they were part of an Indigenous full moon ceremony to do just that. About 50 people showed up near Princess Point on the dark and frigid Monday evening for the monthly ceremony, which was particularly special as it focused on Chedoke Creek. The body of water that runs into Cootes Paradise had about 24 billion litres of sewage and storm water runoff leak into it due to a gate being left open.
For the seventh time since 2008, the community of Clearbrook in Abbotsford, B.C., has been awarded an international gold medal for the quality of its tap water. Clearbrook claimed top spot in the municipal water category at the 33rd annual Berkeley Springs International Water Tasting, held on Saturday in Berkeley Springs, W.Va. The event bills itself as the "Academy Awards of water."
A new courthouse in Abbotsford has been found to have copper and lead in its water. In a statement to CBC News earlier this week, B.C.'s Ministry of Citizens' Services confirmed water testing completed in August 2022 at the Abbotsford Law Courts showed copper and lead levels "modestly in excess" of those permitted by regulatory standards.
A First Nation in British Columbia will receive a boost from the province for shoreline stabilization, with the chief saying it is under consistent threat of flooding. The $5 million aimed at so-called riprap erosion control measures is going to the Sqwa First Nation, Shxwha:y Village and the City of Chilliwack. The announcement comes a week after the province provided $23.4 million in funding to 49 communities to help reduce risks from future disasters related to natural hazards and climate change, including $150,000 for a drainage pump station upgrade design in Chilliwack.
British Columbia's public safety minister was in Abbotsford Thursday nearly a year after the area was hit by catastrophic flooding. Mike Farnworth said progress has been made rebuilding critical infrastructure on the Sumas Prairie and in parts of the Fraser Valley following last year's atmospheric river. Farnworth said permanent repairs to the Sumas River dike are expected to be completed by the end of the month.
Abbotsford’s dikes are in a better position than last year when atmospheric rivers deluged the Lower Mainland-U.S. border area, flooding Abbotsford’s Sumas Prairie, said Mayor Henry Braun, but the area is still highly vulnerable. It needs both a short-term fix and long-term $800 million pumping station to be built as soon as possible. The city wants to see the proposed pumping station uncoupled from its $2.8 billion approved multi-phase flood mitigation plan that will enable more water to be pumped away from valued agricultural land that was flooded when the U.S. based Nooksack River overflowed.
Abbotsford’s dikes are in a better position than last year when atmospheric rivers deluged the Lower Mainland-U.S. border area, flooding Abbotsford’s Sumas Prairie, said Mayor Henry Braun, but the area is still highly vulnerable. It needs both a short-term fix and long-term $800 million pumping station to be built as soon as possible. The city wants to see the proposed pumping station uncoupled from its $2.8 billion approved multi-phase flood mitigation plan that will enable more water to be pumped away from valued agricultural land that was flooded when the U.S. based Nooksack River overflowed.
The City of Abbotsford is getting funding help from the B.C. government to bolster its drinking water system against floods, wildfires and other climate-related disasters. Municipal Affairs Minister Nathan Cullen said Wednesday the $62 million in government funds will support a new well and water-treatment system to serve more than 165,000 people in Abbotsford, Mission and the Matsqui First Nation.
In November 2021, Abbotsford, B.C. was deluged with several days of heavy rain, flooding much of the low-lying valley around the city, wreaking havoc and causing millions of dollars in damage. With climate change, that will likely happen a lot more often in cities across Canada, including Calgary, Ottawa, and Montreal. So what should we do about this? Rivers are not naturally static bodies of water. A river can fluctuate in size and even shift direction depending on the climate, resulting in floods to the land next to it.
Abbotsford farmers hosted a free lunch on Saturday to thank community members for help and support during 2021's disastrous floods. Historic rainfall caused catastrophic floods in the Fraser Valley that damaged farms and forced thousands to flee their homes last November. The Farmers Thanking the Community event, jointly hosted by several farming industry groups, was held at the Abbotsford Exhibition Park. Guests ate a complimentary lunch featuring locally produced food, entertainment and the chance to talk to local farmers.
Two Abbotsford mushroom farms owned by the same man have been ordered to pay $650,000 in fines for polluting local creeks. H.Q. Mushroom Farm received fines totalling $385,000 for two counts of depositing a deleterious substance in October 2015 and April 2016. Delfresh Mushroom Farm has been fined $265,000 for the same two counts in August and November 2018.
Leaders from B.C. and Washington state say they have reached an agreement to work together on redeveloping a flooding prevention plan and response for the Nooksack River. Flooding in southern B.C. and northern Washington in November displaced an estimated 500 people south of the border and about 14,000 were forced to flee their homes on the Canadian side. Rising water levels in the Nooksack contributed to flooding on the Sumas Prairie in Abbotsford and resulted in billions of dollars of damage to the province’s agriculture industry. Washington Gov. Jay Inslee says in a release that flooding will continue to worsen in the face of population growth, development and climate change, and a long-term approach on both sides of the border is needed.
If, as the old African proverb puts it, it takes a village to raise a child, it can also take a community to help someone recover from disaster. That’s the story Trina Enns tells about how her church – the South Abbotsford Church, part of the Canadian Conference of Mennonite Brethren Churches – is helping her rebuild her hope and home after last November’s devastating flood in B.C.’s Fraser Valley.
Just off the TransCanada Highway in Abbotsford, B.C., dozens of businesses and hundreds of homes were destroyed in the devastating flooding from late last year and have not yet received any financial assistance. At the peak of the emergency, nearly 15,000 people fled their homes as floodwaters shut down major highways and destroyed vast farmland. “You know everybody’s got similar stories, traumatic stories,” Arthur Deleeuw, a victim of the floods, told CTV National News.
A plan devised by American officials that could lead to the creation of a “floodway” to allow the Nooksack River to spill into Canada during high water has many Abbotsford residents on edge. Paula Harris, river and flood manager for Whatcom County, presented the concept to the Whatcom County Flood Control Zone Advisory Committee earlier this month, asking them to support a request for federal funding to buy out homes in an area between the Nooksack River and the Canadian border as a way to mitigate future flooding.
The agency that monitors British Columbia's waterways is warning of "minor to significant flooding" in B.C.'s Lower Mainland and Vancouver Island as warming temperatures and persistent rain melt heavy snow. The River Forecast Centre says in a high stream-flow advisory that a significant weather pattern change will occur this week and cause rapid rises in creeks and rivers, especially at low and mid-elevation watersheds on the coast.
Dave Martens is working on rebuilding his poultry farm and his home, which he hasn't been able to live in since the Sumas Prairie region east of Abbotsford, B.C., was hit by floods triggered by historic rainfall in November. "Currently I'm at the point of trying to dry things out still," said Martens of the two farm houses he owns, one of which he lives in. "You hear people talk about people being back in their homes and things like that. That might be true for some, but not the majority."
After spending about $700 to purchase new clothes for her family during November's floods, Abbotsford, B.C., dairy farmer Jimi Meier decided to help others similarly affected. "I just started thinking, that's just one family. There's so many more that are going to be affected. How can I help, being in a better situation?" said the Sumas Prairie resident. As the devastating flood waters rose and then receded, Meier's husband and sons stayed on the farm to care for the animals while she sought safety. While their home was not flooded, they had no access to running water.
Four Abbotsford-area neighbours are being recognized for their early work helping to save the Barrowtown pump station after it was nearly swamped by floodwaters during November's deadly and destructive storms. Chris Kitt, Doug Kasper and brothers Cam and Patrick Raines told CBC News they had been monitoring the water levels for about a day close to properties in Barrowtown on the Sumas Prairie near Abbotsford B.C., where many of them live, when it suddenly became apparent the nearby Sumas River was about to breach its banks.
he boil water advisory for much of Sumas Prairie has been rescinded. The city of Abbotsford made the announcement on Monday (Dec. 20). The notice applies to the following areas: Angus Campbell Roadd to the west, Highway 1 to the north, Chilliwack/Abbotsford border to the east, Canada/US Border and Old Yale Rd to the south. According to the city of Abbotsford, consecutive sampling results show that the water in the Sumas Prairie system meets regulatory water quality requirements and normal water usage can be resumed.
Unprecedented flooding in southwest British Columbia last month has left hard-hit communities dealing with the disposal of debris like drywall, insulation, silt-soaked mattresses, couches and kitchen cupboards damaged by water that gutted homes and businesses. Abbotsford Mayor Henry Braun said a second waste transfer station is expected to open for "mountains" of trash left outside homes after record rainfall killed thousands of livestock and devastated a prime agricultural area of the province.
