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.
Brent Fry, who farms grain and livestock, said it's common for his land to flood for three days when people upstream get 50 millimetres of rain. He said it has caused roads and access points to erode. "There are about four farms out there and all they're doing is draining whether they've got permission or not," Fry said. "I don't even know what to do because the government's not doing anything — they're siding with the big guys."
Kawartha Conservation is encouraging local landowners to continue to help Bring Back the Fish through the restoration of stream banks and efforts to reduce erosion. “Increased development of urban areas can lead to additional strain and cause challenges for fish habitat and water quality, which is why it is essential that we work with local landowners and municipal partners to protect local species,” stated Kawartha Conservation’s landowner and community support officer Danielle Marcoux-Hunter, noting the outstanding support the agency has received from community members in the past has been extremely beneficial.
The Junction Creek Stewardship committee is working with landowners along the waterway to help restore shoreline habitat. The effort is part of the Watersheds Canada Natural Edge Program. "When the soil and the sediment erodes into the creek, we have a lot of sediment build up which raises water levels it degrades the quality of there water," said Jessica Damaren, an environmental biologist with the committee.
The Nova Scotia government has not notified some landowners of potential contamination on their properties from historical gold mines, despite being required to do so by provincial regulations. Gold mines that operated in Nova Scotia dating back to the 1800s left a legacy of contamination, most notably from arsenic and mercury. In many cases, the original source of the contamination is on one property, but the material flowed — often through water — to surrounding properties over time.
The Saskatchewan Party government says it wants an explanation from Ottawa after federal employees allegedly took water samples from farmers’ lands without permission. Jeremy Cockrill, the minister responsible for the province’s Water Security Agency, said three landowners in southern Saskatchewan had recent unannounced visits from federal employees. He said during each separate instance, the employees, who arrived in black Government of Canada vehicles, took samples from dugouts without the landowners’ permission.
The Alberta government says it has secured all the land it needs to make construction officially a go on a long-awaited reservoir needed to protect Calgary and surrounding communities from disastrous floods — like the one that killed five people and caused billions of dollars in damages in 2013. The $432-million Springbank off-stream reservoir will redirect water from the Elbow River into a dry reservoir should extreme flood events occur. With up to $168.5 million in federal funding, the reservoir will be built on about 1,497 hectares of land near the rural community of Springbank, which is west and upstream of Calgary.
The Springbank reservoir, designed to protect Calgary from another devastating flood, has cleared a significant regulatory hurdle. The project, to be built just west of the city limits, would divert water from the Elbow River into a dry reservoir in the case of high water flows. On Tuesday, the the Natural Resources Conservation Board, a provincial body, determined the project was in the public interest despite some vociferous opposition from area landowners. It assessed environmental, social and economic impacts.
Many government agencies knew about the suspicious well water in Ramsay Meadows, a small subdivision halfway between Almonte and Carleton Place. But none of those agencies told the residents. The 49 homes stand across the street from the National Research Council’s national fire lab, which does research on firefighting. In late 2013, the lab bosses learned that their firefighting chemicals had contaminated their property’s groundwater, probably in the late 1900s.
