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.
Beatrice Silver was in the middle of cataloguing the health impacts caused by industrial pollution in her community with her neighbour, Clarence Williams, when Williams’ health declined and he passed away. Williams was in his late 50s, and Silver says his death is connected to the job he previously held at Westlake Pipe and Fitting facility, which makes polyvinyl chloride, or PVC pipes. The factory is located in the middle of Upper Sumas 6 reserve.
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.
A winter storm in Texas this February left residents without water and power for days at a time. Pipes burst across the state. This raised the cost of HDPE and PVC pipes across North America, and is one of the reasons that Iqaluit city council voted unanimously last week to defer a much needed expansion of its main sewer line. The city's sewer system is at capacity. There's a four-phased plan to expand it, and the second phase was set to happen this summer. Every bid the city received to do the expansion was millions of dollars over budget.
