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.
Widespread drought across the Lake Winnipeg watershed has forced Manitoba Hydro to operate its Brandon generating station months before the depths of winter, when the natural gas-fired plant is usually put into service as a last resort. The Brandon station, which usually only operates during peak periods of cold-weather demand, has been running since late October, Manitoba Hydro said Friday in a statement.
SaskPower is projecting a net shortfall of $105 million this fiscal year, something the minister responsible for the Crown corporation, Don Morgan, says is rare. SaskPower reported a net income loss of $97 million in the first half of 2022-23, a period that ending Sept. 30. Over the same period in 2021-22, the corporation reported $13 million in net income. The $110-million swing was due to a $172-million increase in expenses.
Manitoba Hydro is reducing its request for rate increases for the next two years and is crediting a recent provincial government fee reduction. Earlier this month, the Crown-owned utility said it would ask the provincial regulator, the Public Utilities Board, for rate hikes of 3.5 per cent in each of the next two years. The utility said Tuesday it is revising that request to two per cent in each year.
The extreme drought across the Canadian Prairies over the past year is expected to leave Manitoba Hydro with a deficit in the $200-million range for the current fiscal year. The Crown corporation disclosed low river levels will deprive the utility of about $400 million in export revenue over the coming months. This will leave Manitoba Hydro with a deficit between $190 million and $200 million for the 2021-22 fiscal year, the corporation disclosed after publishing its second-quarter financial report.
The death of potentially thousands of pink salmon in the Cheakamus River has prompted questions about how BC Hydro manages water levels in some of its reservoirs. It happened Thursday night and into Friday morning, when the Crown corporation reduced the spill release from the Daisy Lake Reservoir into the river, stranding fish who had moved closer to the banks. “I was taken aback, I couldn’t believe what I saw,” professional angling guide Clint Goyette told Global News. “The amount of dead and dying fish was something I’d never seen before in the adult phase of life of these pink salmon.”
In SaskWater’s recently released 2020-21 Annual Report highlights included a number of bright spots for the Crown corporation in a year marked by significant challenges. Despite the complexities of staff working remotely and the adjustments needed to ensure safe working conditions for essential workers, SaskWater customers did not experience service interruptions attributed to the pandemic.
