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.
The mayor of Glencoe, Ont., says the cost of cleaning up and repairing the damage from Wednesday's deadly rainstorm has pushed his rural community to ask the province for financial relief. Environment Canada said Wednesday the town received 135 millimetres of rain during a downpour that turned driveways into ponds, roads into streams and filled basements with sewage.
The Ontario government is investing up to $6.9 million in approximately 100 local conservation projects to restore and enhance wetlands across the province. This funding will help 14 conservation partners restore more than 2,400 acres of wetlands in Ontario, which combined is larger than Presqu’ile Provincial Park, near Brighton. The projects will improve water quality, help prevent flooding and build climate change resiliency.
The need to limit flood risk in Canada is urgent, with approximately 1.5 million homes, representing 10 per cent of the Canadian residential housing market, in high-risk zones where they are ineligible for flood insurance. A new CSA Group report, authored by the University of Waterloo Intact Centre on Climate Adaptation, provides practical guidance for federal, provincial, local, and Indigenous governments to tackle river flooding.
Ontario’s Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks confirmed that perfluorooctane sulfonate is still leaching from the Hamilton International Airport above the threshold numbers. Gary Wheeler, spokesperson for the ministry, stated in a series of email responses to questions that PFOS, a synthetic chemical part of a class called PFAS (perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances) that the “contamination continues to migrate” from the airport “at levels above the agreed upon threshold.”
Environmental experts say the Ford government's proposal to build thousands of homes in parts of the Greenbelt while adding other protected land elsewhere will cause a host of ecological problems. Last Friday, the provincial government announced a proposal to build 50,000 new homes in some areas that are now part of the Greenbelt, and add 9,400 acres of protected land elsewhere. Premier Doug Ford says it's all part of the province's plan to tackle the housing crisis by building 1.5 million homes over the next decade — as the federal government pledges to start bringing in half a million immigrants a year.
The head of the conversation authority that serves London is concerned legislative changes being pushed through by the Ontario government could limit the organization's role in reviewing projects for flood risk and other natural hazards. The More Homes Built Faster Act — already in its second reading at Queen's Park — is intended to simplify and streamline the approval process for development applications. The Doug Ford government says it's making the changes to fast-track home building to address a province-wide housing shortage.
Environmental advocates are raising the alarm that Ontario's latest housing legislation could prevent conservation authorities from helping municipalities review construction projects and see some wetlands re-mapped for development. The Ford government has also asked the province's three dozen conservation authorities to look at the swaths of land they own to see what could be turned over for housing.
When it comes to getting help from the province regarding the contamination of wells in Chatham-Kent, Kevin Jakubec has called it quits. The Water Wells First founder is now looking to the International Joint Commission on the Great Lakes for assistance to solve the ongoing problem of fouled water in North Kent. "It's time to forget the Ontario government," Jakubec said. "I've given up trying to get help. We're way past that now."
Grimsby’s aging downtown water infrastructure is set to be upgraded thanks to funding from two upper levels of government. On April 18, the Town of Grimsby was awarded a $1.9-million grant to replace the water mains, service pipes and fire hydrants on Main and Elm streets. The project will include the replacement of the old cast-iron water pipes with ones made from PVC. The design phase of the program will start in 2023, with construction expected to begin in 2024.
Under the Investing in Canada Plan, the federal government is investing more than $180 billion over 12 years in public transit projects, green infrastructure, social infrastructure, trade and transportation routes, and Canada’s rural and northern communities. Infrastructure Canada helps address complex challenges that Canadians face every day—ranging from the rapid growth of our cities, to climate change, and environmental threats to our water and land.
Paying for a $2.25 million waterline rehabilitation project along Carman Road in Iroquois just got a bit easier for local water and sewer users. South Dundas officials learned April 14 that the application for more than two-thirds funding under the Investing in Canada Infrastructure Program was approved. The application is one of 144 water infrastructure projects approved during this funding window. The federal government is paying $896,201 and the Ontario government is paying $746,759 towards the project. South Dundas will pay the balance of the project, $597,542.
It’s been two years in the making, but it’s finally complete. Ducks Unlimited Canada has recently completed a two-year restoration project at a significant wetland in the Holland Marsh. “The big push for this restoration project was for improved fish habitat,” said Jennifer Lavigne, a conservation specialist with Ducks Unlimited Canada. There isn’t a lot remaining of the historic 9,000-hectare wetlands that was once a part of the landscape as it has been converted into working fields. In Bradford West Gwillimbury, a 218-hectare wetland is still protecting wildlife and clean water, according to Ducks Unlimited Canada.
A Leamington property owner is fighting with the province about who is responsible for cleaning up a water well that is leaking gas on one of his lots. "The situation is kind of at a stalemate," David Cockerham said. Cockerham is currently being ordered by the Ministry of Environment to plug a well that sits in the corner of a lot that he owns next to his primary residence — a job that could potentially cost upwards of $900,000.
The governments of Canada and Ontario are investing more than $2.5 million to help farmers improve water quality and soil health in the Lake Erie and Lake St. Clair watersheds. Investments increase environmental sustainability and productivity The governments of Canada and Ontario are investing more than $2.5 million to help farmers improve water quality and soil health in the Lake Erie and Lake St. Clair watersheds. Through the Canadian Agricultural Partnership (the Partnership), the Lake Erie Agriculture Demonstrating Sustainability (LEADS) initiative will support 220 farmer-led, regionally targeted cost-share projects to help farmers improve soil health and reduce the risk of nutrient losses on their farms located in the Lake Erie and Lake St. Clair watersheds.
The NDP MPP for the region with the longest-running boil water advisories of any First Nations in Canada is demanding the Ontario government become part of the solution. Sol Mamakwa, who represents the riding of Kiiwetinoong in northwestern Ontario, said the provincial government could do more to help alleviate the suffering of communities on long-term drinking water advisories.
City officials have launched Toronto's largest and most significant storm water management program — the Don River and Central Waterfront and Connected Project — which will halt the flow of sewage into Lake Ontario and clean up waterways. The first phase of the five-phase project — the Coxwell Bypass Tunnel — will see a 10.5 kilometre long and 6.3 metre wide tunnel built at a cost of $400 million. The overall project is expected to cost $3 billion.
In Canada's largest city, raw sewage flows into Lake Ontario so often, Toronto tells people they should never swim off the city's beaches for least two days after it rains. Across the country in Mission, B.C., a three-decade-old pipe that carries sewage under the Fraser River to a treatment plant in Abbotsford is so loaded operators can't even slip a camera inside it to look for damage. If that pipe bursts, it will dump 11 million litres of putrid water from area homes and businesses into a critical salmon habitat every day it isn't fixed.
