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.
In Ottawa's vast rural boundary, you can clear cut privately owned woods on entire lots, even through floodplains and shorelines, without a permit. You can also dump clean fill, significantly altering the grade of a lot and how water drains from it, before having to submit a building application and a grading and drainage plan.
Unquestionably, dumping more than 300 million litres of sewage-tinged water into the Ottawa River stinks. But it’s hard to imagine what that much sewage overflow actually does to a waterway. So, we asked the experts about the impact of the city’s decision to release that volume of water following the massive Aug. 10 storm—and what can be done to prevent this in the future.
When Ottawa was hit by more than 75 millimetres of rain last week it filled a $232 million sewage tunnel, sending nearly 316 million litres of raw sewage into the Ottawa River. Unfortunately, it's not unexpected or unusual. "It was always known that if there were very large storms the city would be faced with a choice of either flooding sewage into people's basements or into the river," explained Dianne Saxe, a former environmental commissioner and the last person to hold that provincial post.
Having a space right on the water has long been an aspiration of Ottawa Riverkeeper. Never before have we had our own program space. We can’t wait to show you this dream as it begins to take shape! As part of the opening, we heard from Tobi Nussbaum, Chief Executive Officer of the National Capital Commission, and from Mona Fortier, MP for the Vanier riding where River House is located. Both talked about how important it is to be able to provide the public with access to this amazing river. Afterwards, the media embarked on a tour of the site that included Ottawa Riverkeeper’s new Learning Lab and the NCC’s swimming area.
According to a public service announcement, small amounts of fluid “released from the helicopter have been noted in the water within the containment area and have been removed.” A contractor has been monitoring contamination through water sampling of the crash site. As of Tuesday afternoon, Lavallee said sampling hasn’t found any contamination along the riverbank or beach. “We have some specialized equipment on site, on the river, to contain any fluids like lubricants, or fuel, or any contaminant that may leave the aircraft into the water to prevent that contamination from getting into the wider environment. There has been some evidence of some small amount of fluids that have come out of the helicopter, but it’s all been contained by this specialized equipment.”
Residents near Boisé and Leo lanes in Ottawa's east end are busy filling sandbags and operating sump pumps for the third time in seven years as the Ottawa River once again floods the area. One of the snowiest winters on record in Ottawa contributed to flooding along that river that started last month. Water levels are surging again during a very rainy week. In Cumberland, located about 30 kilometres east of downtown Ottawa, longtime resident Glen Roberts is no stranger to flooding.
Here are five things we suggest residents living in flood zones should keep in mind while we all wait and see what happens next on the Ottawa River, 1. If flood waters have reached the level of your well head, or covered it, do not drink water from that well until the well water has been tested and you can’t test the water until the river has receded a significant amount more. 2. Ottawa Public Health has outlined clear steps that need to be taken before well water is safe again for drinking.
Residents living in Cumberland and Clarence-Rockland are taking precautionary measures, filling sandbags and preparing for the potential of flooding along the Ottawa River. Manon Lavergne is doing her best to ensure her home does not fall victim to rising flood waters. “We’re bypassing one of our underground sump pump pipes,” she said. “It actually helps when you’re not at home, at work and one of your neighbours, a nice neighbour, can look to see if your sump pump is functioning.”
A City of Ottawa task force is monitoring water levels ahead of the spring thaw and says there's no major flooding in the immediate forecast — but that could change in the weeks ahead. Water levels are currently normal or close to normal, according to the joint Thursday memo from public works general manager Alain Gonthier and Kim Ayotte, general manager of emergency and protective services.
Ducks Unlimited Canada (DUC) is proud to announce that it has recently acquired six properties, totaling more than 80 hectares of wetlands in the regional county municipality of Pontiac. Located in the municipalities of Isle-aux-Allumettes and Île-du-Grand-Calumet in the Outaouais region, the various properties have great ecological value, particularly because of their strategic location on the periphery of the Ottawa River, a high-priority area for the conservation of waterfowl and their habitats.
The City of Gatineau has issued a preventative boil-water advisory for parts of the Aylmer sector after a mechanical malfunction at the drinking water plant caused the water system to depressurize. The advisory affects around 35,000 users in the area south of boulevard des Allumetières, west of rue Atholl-Doune, east of rue de la Lobo and north of the Ottawa River.
Roughly forty years later, an account of the drilling activity by an elderly man who had worked on the well was published in the Ottawa Citizen. That article stated that the drilling had ceased after nine months at about the 1,800-foot mark when the well hit sulphur water. The well wasn’t a total failure, however. So strong was the water pressure that the sulphur water apparently came to the surface and continued to flow. A pipe was installed, with people coming far and wide to drink the water. Not only was sulphur water prized for its supposed medicinal value, it must have been of far better quality that the water the city piped in to residents from the grossly polluted Ottawa River.
The city of Gatineau says approximately 15,000 residents will be under a boil water advisory starting Tuesday night. The boil water advisory is due to water main work in the city. It comes into effect at 11 p.m. and will remain in effect until it is lifted. The homes affected by the advisory are located between Montée Paiement and Avenue du Cheval-Blanc, Highway 50 and the Ottawa River.
A preventative boil water advisory is now over for 1,200 residences in Gatineau. The city of Gatineau issued the boil water advisory for homes located north of Highway 50, between Labrosse and Lorrain boulevards, on Friday following a drop in water pressure. On Sunday, the city said tests confirm the water is safe to consume. Residents are asked to let the water run for one minute or until it runs cold before using it.
Ottawa city staff have submitted their recommendations for the proposed nuclear waste facility at Chalk River to ensure the Ottawa River is protected from contamination. In a memo dated March 10, staff outline 10 recommendations to ensure the safety of river, the primary source of drinking water for residents of Ottawa. "We are supportive of the proposed [near-surface disposal facility] as a means of providing improved environmental protection and engineered storage for low-level radioactive waste," the memo said.
On the rack in the backyard, the little red canoe is withdrawn, overturned and not liking it, and the crest of snow on the canvas is visible along the tumblehome. It yearns for open water now closing in on this writer. Back in 2007, after much input from listeners and a panel of judges, the CBC Radio show Sounds Like Canada picked the canoe as one of the country's seven wonders. One of those judges was Roy MacGregor. “It may have been the promise of a railroad to the Pacific that made Canada whole,” writes Roy in his book, Original Highways: Travelling the Great Rivers of Canada, "but it was rivers that carried the people west and made that railroad necessary.”
A conservation authority is working to update flood hazard maps for parts of eastern Ontario, which will help municipal governments assess the risk of flooding when planning for the future. The South Nation Conservation (SNC), an organization dedicated to the protection and restoration of ecosystems in the region, is leading the efforts to update the maps, which hasn't been done for many years.
Swimmers in Prescott and Russell can feel confident in water quality at area beaches, particularly along the fast-flowing Ottawa River, according to a biologist with the group whose research inspired the City of Gatineau to conduct daily testing on its beaches. A grassroots charity, Ottawa Riverkeeper brings together volunteers, communities, businesses and all levels of government to find solutions to problems that threaten the health of the river. The City of Gatineau recently announced it is now conducting daily water quality tests at all its beaches in response to recommendations made by Ottawa Riverkeeper in a study released in 2020 on the municipality’s beaches. The full report can be found here.
It's the little bucket that could — a small contraption floating along the Ottawa River shoreline cleans the waterway one plastic wrapper at a time. "This is the first trash-trapping device in Ottawa and it gives us an opportunity to see what's happening in our water," said Melanie Abdelnour, a Grade 1 teacher with the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board, who helped bring the Seabin to Ottawa.
I’m up to my knees in water, socks and sneakers submerged — why not? — a few hundred metres west of where Billings Bridge crosses the Rideau River. Not far from a busy, noisy, fumy stretch of Bank Street that typifies much of urban Ottawa, I’m stepping carefully over stones covered in seaweedy slime, immersed in a world of fish and frogs and dragonflies, between mainland Old Ottawa South and my magical destination: a small, unnamed, kidney-shaped island just off the Rideau’s north shore.
