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.
Aging, leaky and crumbling pipes cost the average household in Ontario up to a third more on its monthly water utility bills, according to a new report by a think-tank created by a consortium of provincial construction unions and contractors. "It's a huge amount of waste, not only in the amount of water being spilled, but also in the energy being used to pressurize these pipes," said Tamer El-Diraby, a professor of civil engineering at the University of Toronto and the study's lead author.
