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.
Residents at the Stoneridge apartments in Iqaluit, who have been waiting for more than a week for a solution to their frozen pipes, can now at least shower at a different building and haul water back to their homes. But for Maxine Chubbs, that solution is too little, too late. It also does nothing to stop the smell of raw sewage from filling her apartment, where frozen sewer lines have caused sewage to back up into her sink and flow out of the building.
Rebecca Zagozewski, executive director with the Saskatchewan First Nations Water Association, says cisterns can pose health risks to those who rely on them. She says the structures can have cracked lids, which allows all sorts of debris to get into them — including rats, mice, drowned puppies and garbage — and they’re often not cleaned properly. On top of that, she says the Saskatchewan First Nations Water Association is concerned that there is no certification program for water truck drivers. The group wants to create such a program where drivers would have to be trained in how to keep the water safe and be held accountable if things go wrong. “Because right now there’s no accountability,” she says.
I am currently at the VG undergoing my third round of immuno/chemotherapy, and though I know I will be treated with outstanding care, I also know that I will be unable to simply go to the bathroom to rinse my flushed face with cool water from the tap. I will be unable to take a shower, even though the toxic drugs flowing through my body will cause shakes and shivers and night sweats. And I also know that the caretakers and registered nurses who do such a phenomenal job will be taking precious time out of their schedule to prepare clean and pathogen-free water for me and for others much worse off than I am, simply so these individuals who are ill can take a necessary sponge bath to ease the distress of their treatments.
A boil water advisory on the Black Lake Denesuline First Nation that has been in place for more than seven years has been lifted, according to the Government of Canada. The long-term drinking water advisory (LT-DWA) was lifted on January 23. Nearly 200 homes and buildings in the northern First Nation such as the school, fire hall and band office now have clean drinking water from the local water treatment plant.
As temperatures across Canada continue to rise, few things do a better job of keeping us cool than going for a swim. But with the closure of public swimming pools across the country due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many may be left wondering how safe it will be to return to these spaces once they reopen. According to Matthew Miller, a biochemistry professor at McMaster University in Hamilton who is studying the novel coronavirus, COVID-19 is highly unlikely to be transmitted through water.
