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 city has a new plan to detect water leaks faster, after the revelation that a quarter of its fresh drinking water never makes it to Hamilton homes. Twenty-six per cent of the treated water destined for local taps, or 19.916 megalitres per year, escapes through broken and leaky pipes, says Dave Alberton, Hamilton's manager of water distribution. That's higher than the provincial average of 15 per cent, he said, and it's expensive and bad for the environment.
The RCCAO is calling on the federal government to establish a municipal water, wastewater and stormwater infrastructure fund that would provide money to municipalities to repair systems, saving municipalities significant amounts of money. Across Ontario, there are sections of underground infrastructure that are well past their useful life and pipes in many municipalities are deteriorating which can lead to drinking water contamination, sewage backups and increased flooding.
