Nicole Hancock
Indigenous community hosts full moon ceremony ...

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.

Indigenous community hosts full moon ceremony to heal Chedoke Creek

leaky pipes

Fragile water system in Small Point warns of big problems elsewhere Social Sharing

Fragile water system in Small Point warns of big problems elsewhere Social Sharing

Leaky pipes, a water source that's depleting, and climate change threatening the whole fragile system. The town of Small Point-Broad Cove-Blackhead-Adam's Cove has unique challenges with its water system, but the big picture looks all too familiar in small towns throughout the province. Most mornings, longtime municipal worker Mike Hurley starts his day by checking the wells. The town's water system is composed of a series of wells, bringing water from deep underground to nearby houses through plastic pipes. Hurley has his hands full battling leaks and mechanical breakdowns, but there are some problems he can't fix.

Analysis-Wasted water saps battle against Italy's worst drought in decades

Analysis-Wasted water saps battle against Italy's worst drought in decades

Vast swathes of land south of Rome were boggy swamps for thousands of years until a monumental drainage programme in the 1930s turned malaria-infested marshes into prime agricultural fields. Fast forward 90 years and, where water was once abundant, now it is growing scarce as one of the worst droughts in living memory fuelled by weeks of scorching temperatures has drastically reduced the flow of local springs. But ageing infrastructure and leaky pipes are exacerbating an already disastrous situation, with much precious water vanishing down the drain before it even reaches the taps.

Judge throws out class action against Saint John over leaky pipes

Judge throws out class action against Saint John over leaky pipes

A New Brunswick judge has tossed out a class action lawsuit against the City of Saint John that flowed from alleged damage to homes and appliances caused by leaky pipes. In her decision released on Tuesday, Court of Queen's Bench Justice Tracey DeWare found the city did not breach its standard of care when it switched the water source for about 5,600 west side Saint John customers back in 2017. As a result, she said the city does not owe the complainants for damages they alleged to have suffered as a result.

Town of Westlock hopes to combat massive water loss with new cellular detection system

Town of Westlock hopes to combat massive water loss with new cellular detection system

The Town of Westlock is banking on an $80,000 water distribution leak detection system to curtail the $270,000-plus it spent this year on water that never made it to residents’ taps. In 2021, the town lost 20 per cent of all the potable water it paid for from the regional water commission — $276,270 that, in essence, flowed into the ground. In a Dec. 20 interview, CAO Simone Wiley said the 20 per cent figure is an overall number, which counts everything from line leaks and breaks, to fighting fires and flushing hydrants — any water that isn’t metered. For example, the loss percentage spiked at 27.9 in January 2021 due to a handful of water main breaks and the massive Commerce Building fire, but sat at only 15 per cent in July.

26% of Hamilton drinking water doesn't make it to taps. Here's what the city is doing

26% of Hamilton drinking water doesn't make it to taps. Here's what the city is doing

The city has a new plan to detect water leaks faster, after the revelation that a quarter of its fresh drinking water never makes it to Hamilton homes. Twenty-six per cent of the treated water destined for local taps, or 19.916 megalitres per year, escapes through broken and leaky pipes, says Dave Alberton, Hamilton's manager of water distribution. That's higher than the provincial average of 15 per cent, he said, and it's expensive and bad for the environment.

Leaky city plumbing raises Ontario water bills by up to a third on average, new study shows

Leaky city plumbing raises Ontario water bills by up to a third on average, new study shows

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.

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