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

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Fredericton considers hiking water rates as part of 2024 budget process

Fredericton considers hiking water rates as part of 2024 budget process

The City of Fredericton is looking to raise water and sewer rates for residents next year following this year's freeze in rates. The increase, if ultimately approved by councillors, would see the monthly bill for the average Fredericton household go from $73.47 to $78.17 per month, said Alicia Keating, the city's treasurer. "Not everyone is going to see the same rate change based on your bill — what you consume and what you don't — but when we look at the total average customer base of what we have, they'll see an average increase of four and a half dollars to their monthly sewer rate," said Keating, speaking during a council-in-committee open budget meeting on Tuesday.

Saskatoon woman handed $33k water bill from the city

Saskatoon woman handed $33k water bill from the city

Mike Voth, the city's director of corporate revenue said the unfortunate situation is a combination of yearslong unnoticed water leak and a lack of access to the property. For roughly four years, the property was on an automatic billing cycle based on estimated usage, not actual water usage during that time. Once the city worker plugged in the new numbers, the difference between the paid amounts and the actual usage was realized. The culprit seems to be an upstairs toilet that was leaking for potentially years. Nguyen called a plumber and had the small leak fixed in roughly 15 minutes. "It's quite amazing what a 24-hour, seven-day-a-week leak, how much water can be used or consumed in this case," Voth said."Over the course of several years, unfortunately, that's the gap between what was billed and paid for and what was actually passing through the meter and being used."

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