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.
Response teams said they controlled the situation before it reached the provincial parkland and that the substance was non-agricultural source material. "Which is essentially treated organic and other waste that's already ready to go get applied to farmers' fields to fertilize crops, so it was a safe certified material," Watts explained. The agency is doing an assessment, but it's believed a check valve failed at the biosolids complex, causing the overflow.
When Kristen Villebrun heard the City of Hamilton recently discovered sewage has been flowing into the harbour for the past 26 years, she was upset. Villebrun said she and other Indigenous water walkers have complained about sewage in the water there for years. "I'm sick of talking and it falling on deaf ears,"said Villebrun, an Anishinaabe woman who is also known as Wassode nibi kwe (Shining Water Woman).
The City of Hamilton says it has just discovered sewage has been leaking into the Hamilton Harbour for 26 years because of a hole in a combined sewage pipe in the industrial sector. It's unclear how much sewage has spilled into the harbour. But Nick Winters, director of Hamilton Water, told reporters on Tuesday afternoon "it's going to be a big number," adding the city will publicly release the number as soon as they have it.
The province is advising people and animals to steer clear of Spruce Sands beach after a sewage spill occurred nearby, causing elevated E. coli levels in the water — a stinky problem for beachgoers. Manitoba Health says the spill occurred in the rural municipality of Gimli on July 15, when a sewer line damaged during routine ditch maintenance began affecting local water quality. The E. coli levels are currently at 16,756 E. coli per 100/ml — more than 83 times the recreational water quality objective of 200 E.coli per 100/ml, according to a sample collected in the section of Lake Winnipeg on Tuesday.
