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.
North Dundas council voted to sole source engineering of a new well for its water system to avoid up to 12 months of delay. North Dundas has been slowly moving through the environmental assessment process to add a new well on Lafleur Road to increase water capacity to the water system. Water supply issues have limited development in areas where users must connect to the water system in North Dundas.
The Town of Cochrane’s existing license to withdraw water from the Bow River is set to reach its maximum level in as little as four years, throwing into question how current rates of growth may be sustained in the near future. The province put a stop to any applications for new licenses in the South Saskatchewan River Basin (which includes the Bow River) in 2006.
Work will soon begin on the Wellington elevated water storage tank. Council awarded the contract to Landmark Structures Co. on Tuesday night during their regular council meeting for the construction of an elevated water storage tank and bulk water filling station at a cost of $9,002,000. This is over-budget by almost $1 million and the budget increase of $992,772.15 will be funded by long-term debt.
A group of Grade 7 students delivered some shocking results to the Region of Queens Municipality council meeting December 22. The South Queens Middle School students had been working on a Social Studies project to test fecal bacteria, or enterococci, levels in the Mersey River. The students found readings of between 230 and 340 enterococci to 100 millilitres of water. Under Health Canada regulations, it is not advisable to swim in water where there is 70 enterococci/100 ml. And at 170 enterococci/100 ml, the water should not touch skin.
