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.
Most Canadians take safe, clean drinking water for granted – most, but not all. In fact, over 17,600 people in Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and Ontario alone are currently living under a drinking water advisory that has been in place for longer than a year. These Canadians, the vast majority of whom live in First Nations communities, rely on bottled water for hydration, cooking and personal hygiene.
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.
Beyond the obvious implications, such as having less water for drinking, cooking and cleaning, and less time for other activities due to needing to fetch water, there are other consequences affecting the health and well-being of individuals, families, communities and society. The extent to which gaps in water access can disrupt lives and livelihoods is the subject of inquiry for Gervin Ane Apatinga, researcher and PhD candidate, Department of Geography and Planning, University of Saskatchewan (USask).
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to hear from the state environmental agency by late Monday or early Tuesday morning on if the boil water notice can be rescinded.
The provincial government has issued a precautionary boil water advisory for Georgetown. The Department of Health said Georgetown is reactivating its water system Monday. As a precautionary measure, residents are asked to bring their water to a rolling boil for two minutes before drinking or cooking. Residents are advised there may be some water discoloration. If that is the case, they should let the water run for a few minutes before using it.
Almost three weeks after municipal authorities of a small northeastern B.C. community announced that a local water treatment plant had stopped working, hundreds of residents have been asked not to drink tap water or use it in cooking. On Tuesday, the District of Hudson's Hope — about 86 kilometres west of Fort St. John, home to more than 800 people — and the Northern Health Authority issued a "do not consume" order for potable water that the district processes and distributes.
The City of Iqaluit is distributing water from Sylvia Grinnell River Monday in response to complaints that the smell of fuel has returned to the city’s treated water. The water depot will be open from 3 to 8 p.m. at the Elders Qammaq, according to a news release issued by recreation director Stephanie Clark. The city is asking residents bring refillable containers, and to boil the water before drinking it or cooking with it.
Erland Suppah Jr. doesn’t trust what comes out of his faucet. Each week, Suppah and his girlfriend haul a half-dozen large jugs of water from a distribution center run by the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs to their apartment for everything from drinking to cooking to brushing their teeth for their family of five. It’s the only way they feel safe after countless boil-water notices and weekslong shutoffs on a reservation struggling with bursting pipes, failing pressure valves and a geriatric water treatment plant.
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.
In the summer, the Sylvia Grinnell River near Iqaluit is a popular spot to fish for Arctic char where ice-cold water cascades over rocky ledges. Now, with thick layers of ice and snow covering the flowing water below, it has become one of the city's main water sources for drinking and cooking. The other comes in thousands of plastic water bottles that arrive by plane.
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.
When the prime minister addressed on-reserve water advisories in last week’s English leaders’ debate, he made it sound like the water issue was well in hand. The casual way that Canadians all the way up to and including the prime minister talk about First Nations water issues shows that the country still does not get it. Even in the unlikely event that all water advisories are lifted, First Nations people will still be struggling to access this necessity of life.
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.
This time of year, with the temperature plunging below -20 C, a snowmobile and an ice chisel are required tools for anyone in Tataskweyak Cree Nation in need of fresh water. There’s the bottled stuff, trucked into town courtesy of the federal government, but the weekly shipment of 1,500 cases is only sufficient to meet basic consumption needs. For cleaning, cooking and basic hygiene water, many residents need a supplementary source. And rather than use their tainted tap water, they follow a snowmobile trail several kilometres to Assean Lake, pails in hand.
The Mohawks of the Bay of Quinte First Nation is expanding its water system to deliver clean drinking water to hundreds of residents who have been grappling for more than a decade with seven drinking water advisories. The Bay of Quinte is on Lake Ontario and the First Nation is not remote or isolated. It’s just off Ontario’s Highway 401, between Toronto and Montreal. Chief R. Donald Maracle said his community has suffered from a lack of safe water since 2008, due to fecal, bacterial and algae contaminations. A regional drought made many groundwater wells go completely dry in 2017.
