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 District of Invermere has issued a second water quality advisory in the space of less than a week. Once again, a broken water main is to blame. The new advisory was issued late yesterday (Tuesday, June 6) and applies to Upper and Lower Lakeview Lane. All residents on those streets should boil water for at least one full minute if they plan to use it for drinking, making ice, cooking, washing food or brushing their teeth.
Homes and businesses along 7th Avenue between 13th Street and 14th Street (that include people with weakened immune systems or those wanting to take extra precautions) are advised to boil water for at least one full minute before drinking, washing fruits and vegetables, making beverages (or ice) or brushing teeth. People can also use an alternate water source if they wish. “We’ve got the water main fixed,” Invermere Mayor Al Miller told the Pioneer, adding that the advisory was issued mostly as a precaution since the water main was in fact opened up during the work. Miller isn’t sure why the water main broke, although he suggested “it may have had something to do with the natural play we sometimes see as a result of winter frost.”
Houston schools were closed and some elective surgeries delayed on Monday after a city water treatment plant temporarily lost power and residents were urged to boil water through at least Tuesday. Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner said he expects to hear from the state environmental agency by late Monday or early Tuesday morning on if the boil water notice can be rescinded.
Jennifer Bauer was doing her dishes when she noticed something was wrong with the water coming out of her tap. It was brown. "I was like, 'what the heck?'" she said. "I can't even describe it. It was so disgusting." That's when the mother of six found out that her town of Assiniboia had been placed on a precautionary drinking water advisory the day before.
Over the last five months, Isabelle Couture has become accustomed to boiling pots of water on her stove, buying 18-litre jugs, and brushing her teeth with a water bottle. "I haven't felt very safe to drink it, because I don't know exactly what's going on," she said. She doesn't know what harmful substances have been detected — or when it will be safe to consume water again directly from the tap.
A number of drinking water advisories have been put in place throughout parts of Saskatchewan. At least six separate warnings have been issued as of Sunday afternoon, impacting the communities of Elbow, Srongfield, Loreburn, Danielson Provincial Park, Douglas Provincial Park and Pleasantdale. The province has told residents to boil water for at least one minute prior to any usage, including drinking, baking purposes, washing of fruits and vegetables and brushing teeth.
About 600 east Saint John homes and businesses are under a boil water after a 53-year-old water main broke. The break in the 250-millimetre (roughly 10-inch) cast iron water main on Hickey Road, near On the Vine Meat & Produce, was discovered "late Friday evening into early Saturday morning," said city spokesperson Nathalie Logan. It left area residents without any water for about 14 hours, according to Logan.
People in Sachs Harbour, N.W.T., are being told not to consume water from their homes — even if it's boiled — if it was delivered since Monday March 21, 2022. The do not consume advisory came from the territory's chief environmental health officer after the smell of fuel and an oily sheen was found in recent water deliveries, according to a press release Wednesday afternoon.
Residents of Chippewas of the Thames First Nation are being cautioned to boil their water immediately as it has been deemed unsafe to drink. A precautionary boil water advisory came into effect at 4 p.m. Tuesday, cautioning residents to boil water from their supply. The advisory also applies to Muncee-Delaware Nation. "Any water being used for cooking, drinking, brushing teeth, making beverages, washing babies, and washing fruit and vegetables should be boiled for ONE MINUTE and cooled before use," read a statement on the Chippewas of the Thames website.
Kym Gouchie lives just 20 kilometers away from downtown Prince George, northern B.C.'s largest city and one that has been rated as having one of the best water systems in the country — but because she is on reserve land, she has been unable to drink from her taps for more than a year. Gouchie lives with her mother on the Lheidli T'enneh First Nation reserve, which was established after its members were removed from the Lheidli T'enneh village near present-day downtown Prince George in 1913. In 2019, the First Nation announced the installation of water filtration systems, which have since failed.
Back in the U.S., Michigan officials have warned residents in the city of Benton Harbor not to use tap water for drinking, cooking or brushing their teeth due to lead contamination. The city’s tap water was found to contain lead levels up to 60 times the federal limit as early as 2018. That’s higher than the contamination of Flint’s tap during its water crisis. Advocates are calling for officials to declare a state of emergency and for the EPA to intervene. The population of Benton Harbor is 85% Black, and nearly half of its residents are poor.
This past November marked 25 years since Neskantaga First Nation, located in Northwestern Ontario, was placed on a boil water advisory. In October 2020, over 250 Neskantaga residents were evacuated and transferred to a hotel in Thunder Bay after “an oily sheen was found in the Neskantaga water reservoir;” “high levels of hydrocarbons” were discovered in the water after testing. Residents were able to return after two months, but the boil water advisory remains. Chief Chris Moonias has called upon Ontario Premier Doug Ford to support Neskantaga First Nation in securing clean drinking water and properly trained water operators – Ford has yet to respond. Ending all boil-water advisories in Canada can no longer be delayed; Ford must act in accordance with the concerns of the Neskantaga First Nation immediately.
Activists in northeastern Ontario fighting for safe, clean water in First Nations communities across Canada are getting tired of broken promises. After five years and millions in spending, the Liberal government announced in early December that it would not fulfill its commitment to end all long-term water advisories on reserves by March 2021. Although some progress has been made – 97 advisories have been lifted since November 2015 – there’s still a long way to go. There are 59 active long-term water advisories in 41 communities across the country, and activists maintain that clean water should be a priority for the federal government, especially during a global pandemic. “Water is a basic human right, and nobody should have to beg for it. This is wrong, and it’s come to the point where I think it comes down to racism,” said Autumn Peltier, a teenage water-rights activist from Wiikwemkoong Unceded Territory on Manitoulin Island.
