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.
Brandon City Council will introduce a bylaw to borrow $15 million for the final phase of upgrades to the municipal water treatment plant at its next meeting. In January, Premier Heather Stefanson announced that Brandon would be receiving a further $15 million from the province toward the project on top of the $38 million it had already provided.
The total cost of upgrades to the largest of Winnipeg's sewage treatment plants has risen to $2.2 billion and will likely increase further, according to city financial status reports and previous budget documents. This is leading to renewed concerns about the cash required to continue improvements to the North End Water Pollution Control Centre, which processes sewage from the Kildonans, Transcona, Elmwood, the North End, the West End, downtown neighbourhoods and parts of River Heights, St. James and St. Boniface.
The completion of the new Rose Valley Water Treatment Plant project is creeping closer. The City of West Kelowna has initiated the project's final phase — constructing 3.7 kilometres of water transmission mains that will connect residents on the West Kelowna Estates and Sunnyside/Pritchard water systems to the new Rose Valley Water Service Area.
