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 Yukon government is directing the owners of the Minto Mine to brace for a heavy spring melt, and to take some needed measures now to avoid a tailings pond spill into the environment. The territory is experiencing its fourth consecutive year of above-average snow pack, and that's raised concerns about whether the melt might overwhelm the mine's water storage capacity. The mine site is about 40 kilometres from the community of Pelly Crossing, Yukon.
Yukoners can expect to see a significant increase in precipitation in the next 50 years, according to the territory's latest environmental report. The 2022 state of the environment interim report, published on Monday by the Yukon government, estimates annual precipitation could rise by almost 17 per cent before 2072. The data reflects a similar trend on annual temperatures, which have increased by 2.2 C over the last 50 years — with winter temperatures increasing by almost 5 C. "Our environment is changing due to climate change impacts and a growing population," Yukon Environment Minister Nils Clarke said in a press release on Monday.
A major leak in Whitehorse's sewage system was repaired mid last week, but the extent of the procedure's environmental impacts are still unknown. The Marwell Lift Station, which acts as a conduit for the majority of the city's wastewater and sewage, was recently closed for a week to allow crews to investigate and fix the leaking pipe. During that time, the city opted to temporarily include bypass valves to dump a large volume of raw sewage into the Yukon River.
The City of Whitehorse is asking residents to minimize water usage for the next couple of days as the city repairs a leak in the sewage line. Starting tonight at midnight, the Marwell Lift Station will be taken offline so crews can diagnose and repair the leaking pipe. Oshea Jephson, the city's communications manager, said in the meantime, bypass valves will discharge wastewater into the Yukon River.
Over a quarter of a century after the last rock truck wound its way out of the Faro mine pit, it appears a long-sought route to remediation is underway. On February 15, Canada signed a $108 million contract with Parsons Inc. for construction management and two years of care and maintenance on the Faro mine site. Parsons, one of the largest players in remediation in the world, boasts that their “contract could span over 20 years and exceed $2 billion.”
The water levels in Yukon's Southern Lakes are slowly going down — at least for now. In a flood update issued over the weekend, the territorial government said Bennett, Tagish, and Marsh lakes, as well as Lake Laberge, had all gone down between 0.9 and 1.5 centimetres in 24 hours. All four remain well above 2007 levels, in particular Lake Laberge, which is currently 32.1 centimetres higher.
Yukoner Florian Lemphers has been watching the water creep ever closer to his home over the last two weeks. A five-foot tall fence on the outer edge of his Shallow Bay property is now peeking just a few inches above the waterline. "It's very, very sad. We've been here for 38 years and we've never seen anything like this," he said on Monday. "It has been a labour of love over the last 38 years, putting this place together, and it's very, very hard to see it be threatened this way. So we're doing the best we can."
