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.
SaskPower is projecting a net shortfall of $105 million this fiscal year, something the minister responsible for the Crown corporation, Don Morgan, says is rare. SaskPower reported a net income loss of $97 million in the first half of 2022-23, a period that ending Sept. 30. Over the same period in 2021-22, the corporation reported $13 million in net income. The $110-million swing was due to a $172-million increase in expenses.
Shane Philips will lead a walk on Monday June 7 to the Aberfoyle bottling plant to renew Wellington Water Watchers opposition to permits to take water for bottling. Over the course of the following week Shane will walk to the Middlebrook well and the Hillsburgh well to meet local residents opposed to Triton Water Holdings Canada Inc. application for a ten-year permit to take water for bottling.
Alberta government documents show repeated cuts to environmental monitoring despite contaminants in some waterways that exceed thresholds that are supposed to trigger increased scrutiny. The province's 2019 five-year monitoring plan shows stations on two rivers and a creek polluted with selenium from coal mines were mothballed. That was despite more than two decades of readings that Alberta Environment guidelines suggest should have led to closer attention.
