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.
Executives of embattled British utility Thames Water, which is partly owned by two of Canada’s biggest pension funds, have insisted that calls for its nationalization are premature and have been highly exaggerated. In an appearance before a committee of British parliamentarians Wednesday, company co-CEO Cathryn Ross said the utility wasn’t close to meeting the conditions required for the government to take over the business under a process known as special administration.
The proposed flow of 250,000 gallons/second represents a lot of water. Converting it into a more normal engineering unit, this would represent about 32,000 cubic feet/second (CFS). That happens to be about the same rate of flow as passes through the generating turbines at Hoover Dam at full capacity. In the original letter, this flow was correctly calculated as the amount of flow necessary to fill Lake Powell in one year. Even at today’s record low level, Lake Powell is not empty. Lesser flows could reduce the costs and difficulty of the project while still providing significant benefits.
Britain is enacting the early stages of drought plans which involve using water carefully to protect supplies, the government said on Tuesday, following record-breaking temperatures. There are so far no plans for curbs on water use but regulators and water companies are working to manage water levels, including by operating water transfer schemes to allow rivers to be artificially maintained, the Environment Agency (EA) said.
