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.
A major leak in Whitehorse's sewage system was repaired mid last week, but the extent of the procedure's environmental impacts are still unknown. The Marwell Lift Station, which acts as a conduit for the majority of the city's wastewater and sewage, was recently closed for a week to allow crews to investigate and fix the leaking pipe. During that time, the city opted to temporarily include bypass valves to dump a large volume of raw sewage into the Yukon River.
About 130 residents in the Suncrest Trailer park in Lakeshore could have their water shut off as early as Thursday if the owners of the park don't find a leaking water pipe that has caused thousands of dollars in damage to a neighbouring property. "Apparently, no one can find this pipe. That's why blindly they began digging around the garage," said Pavlina Georgieva. Water began bubbling up from under the garage at her and her husband Georgi's house next to the trailer park on October 27. It comes from a pipe owned by the trailer park but despite several efforts no one has been able to locate the pipe.
A Leamington property owner is fighting with the province about who is responsible for cleaning up a water well that is leaking gas on one of his lots. "The situation is kind of at a stalemate," David Cockerham said. Cockerham is currently being ordered by the Ministry of Environment to plug a well that sits in the corner of a lot that he owns next to his primary residence — a job that could potentially cost upwards of $900,000.
