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.
Regina's executive committee has voted to receive updates on the city's efforts to remove lead water connections every two years rather than annually. The decision was a compromise between some councillors that wanted to continue receiving yearly updates and others who say receiving the reports on annual basis is an inefficient use of council's time.
A group of concerned residents is hoping a newly-launched petition helps motivate the City of Regina to speed up its lead service connection replacement program. The program currently has a 15-year timeline for completion, while the petition’s organizers would like to see that reduced down to five. “Fifteen years is appalling,” said Regina resident and Get the Lead Out member Florence Stratton, adding the petition already has about 170 signatures.
Federal environmental regulators have flagged Benton Harbor’s water system for a host of problems, from inadequate water treatment to a failure to adequately notify residents about high lead levels that have plagued the water system for at least three years. In an order Tuesday, officials with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency told Benton Harbor it must fix a range of Safe Drinking Water Act “violations and deficiencies” identified during a September inspection.
