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 Greater Sudbury Watershed Alliance wants the northern Ontario city to stop building major roads near the city's watershed. The group says because arterial roads are legislated to be clear of snow between three to eight hours after a snowfall, the city has to use salt to reach that target. Smaller, less busy roads, though, don't have the same requirements in place, and the city can use sand for traction instead.
Contractors have been deployed to Sudbury's Ramsey Lake to clean up a residential oil spill that migrated to the shoreline on Jan. 17. The Ontario Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks estimates around 812 litres of home heating fuel spilled onto the ground from a storage tank at a property on Gennings Street, near the lake. While Ramsey Lake is the main source of the city's drinking water, ministry spokesperson Gary Wheeler said there is only a low risk to the thousands of people who get their municipal drinking water from the lake.
An oil spill that started at a home along Ramsey Lake in Sudbury, Ont., has since reached the shoreline, said Public Health Sudbury and Districts. The health unit said in a news release that the spill Jan. 14 started from the fuel oil tank of a home on Gennings Street near the lake. Public health said it immediately alerted the Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks, as well as people who lived nearby.
Public Health Sudbury & Districts has issued swimming advisories for two Sudbury beaches. Maintenance Beach and the Northern Water Sports Centre Beach, both on Ramsey Lake, have exceeded "acceptable bacteriological water quality standards" following routine samples. The beach water quality is not suitable for recreational use at this time, the health unit said.
