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.
Buffalo Pound water treatment plant
Early algae blooms are to blame for the musty water some people are noticing in Regina and Moose Jaw these days, according to experts at the Buffalo Pound water treatment plant, which services both cities. Blair Kardash, the plant's manager of laboratory and research, told CBC News his team first detected the "odour materials" from the growing algae in Buffalo Pound Lake — where the water comes from before it's filtered — at the end of April.
After more than a few years of planning and studies, a $295 million, a three-year renewal of the Buffalo Pound Water Treatment Plant in southcentral Saskatchewan is now underway. Construction by the joint venture team of Graham and Aecon, working under a progressive design-build lump sum contract, started in early June and is expected to take until 2025 to complete. The construction phase was preceded by two years of pre-construction and engineering design.
City council gave the Buffalo Pound Water Treatment Plant the go-ahead to borrow $60 million to fund its plant renewal project. The plant hasn’t had a major renewal in over 30 years. The project is expected to cost $252.8 million. Recently, the water treatment plant received $163.4 million from the Investing in Canada Infrastructure Program and $29.4 million will come from existing funds that Buffalo Pound has in reserves. The loan principle and interest is expected to be repaid by Buffalo Pound through water rate charges to the cities of Moose Jaw and Regina. Moose Jaw uses about 15 per cent of the water supply.
