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.
Iqaluit, the capital of Canada’s vast far northern territory of Nunavut, lifted a city-wide boil water advisory March 4 that had been in place since the beginning of the month. In an earlier news release, authorities stated, “The City recommends that all water used for consumption and dental hygiene is brought to a rolling boil for a minimum of one full minute.”
Iqaluit is under a city-wide boil water advisory again, and will likely remain so for several days, according to the municipal government. The advisory stems from repairs city workers were doing Tuesday to a water valve, which led to a water line losing pressure. Though precautionary, this is the latest in a series of water issues in the Nunavut capital over the past six months. A previous city-wide advisory in January lasted for more than a week; residents also spent nearly two months in 2021 under a do-not-consume order due to concerns about fuel contamination in the city's water supply.
The spring break up has prompted a boil water advisory in Hay River, Enterprise, Kakisa and K'atl'odeeche First Nation. Public health is asking residents in these communities to boil their water for at least one minute before drinking it, because of an increase of muddy water caused by the spring breakup. "This advisory is precautionary in nature, and is due to a reoccurrence of higher than normal turbidity," said a statement from the Chief Environmental Health Officer late Sunday afternoon.
The City of Leduc has implemented a Lead Management program to support the continued health and safety of residents. It is also part of a provincial requirement to ensure compliance with the lead level limit outlined in Health Canada’s Guidelines for Canadian Drinking Water Quality, which were updated in 2019. Leduc’s drinking water is safe and clean. This program is purely precautionary, and is required of all municipalities in Alberta. Health Canada has lowered the Maximum Acceptable Concentration (MAC) of lead in drinking water by 50 per cent, from 10 to 5 parts per billion (PPB), and changed the location of where compliance must be met from the system’s point of distribution to the customer’s tap.
