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.
Niagara Region may have to revisit its water and wastewater master plan if changes by the province, in the form of Bill 23, the More Homes Built Faster Act, leave the municipality short of revenue for new growth-related projects. That’s what a recent report to its public works committee said as councillors examined the nuts of bolts of a planned update to the 2016 master plan last week.
Katie Church has yanked so many patches of the pesky invasive European water chestnut this summer, she has dreams about doing it. "I look at the chestnut in the water and [dream of] removing it and making sure everything is clear," she laughs. Church has just finished leading a field team of five summer students hired by the non-profit Invasive Species Centre. The group was tasked with searching, finding and plucking the thick, rooted green invasive aquatic plant by hand along a 30-kilometre stretch of the Welland River, in Ontario's Niagara Region.
Thorold councillors unanimously supported writing a letter to their Niagara Region counterparts to show they’re ready to resume water testing in the city. “In 2002, the United Nations stated that water is a human right, clean water is a human right, and we’re in 2021 and this is an issue now in Thorold,” said Thorold councillor Carmen DeRose. At the meeting on May 4, DeRose brought the issue to the council’s attention after residents had reached out to him.
