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.
The Ontario government is investing $6 million to support 30 multi-year projects to help protect, conserve and restore the Great Lakes. These investments will help reduce plastic litter, excess nutrients and road salt entering lakes, rivers and streams, advance climate resiliency, and make significant progress on restoring environmentally degraded areas of the Great Lakes.
We are losing wetlands three times faster than forests, according to the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands. When it comes to restoring them to their natural state there is one hero with remarkable powers - the beaver. Wetlands store water, act as a carbon sink, and are a source of food. The Ramsar Convention on Wetlands says they do more for humanity than all other terrestrial ecosystems - and yet they are disappearing at an alarming rate. The main problems are agricultural and urban expansion, as well as droughts and higher temperatures brought about by climate change. But if you have a river and a beaver it may be possible to halt this process.
There is currently no timeline for the restoration of water service at Wabaseemoong Independent Nations after accidental contamination forced the northwestern Ontario community's water supply to be shut off last month. The shutdown occurred on Dec. 23, after a water pipe burst in the building that houses the community's water reservoir, leading to a flood, said Curtis Bergeron, director of strategic water management with Indigenous Services Canada.
The Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority would like to give you some money. The NPCA is seeking applications for its restoration and water well decommissioning grant programs for projects in 2023. Selected projects will help improve water quality and wildlife habitat as part of ongoing efforts to restore and preserve the Niagara Peninsula watershed’s natural heritage and water resources.
As an insurer, Intact obviously has its own data and maps. Based on that, the company assumes as many as five per cent of those newly at-risk properties will be simply uninsurable. Brindamour warns that "if you're in a zone that gets flooded repeatedly, or where the odds of being flooded has increased meaningfully, it'll be hard to find insurance from private capital."
