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.
He said they do this across the city and surrounding counties three times a year starting in mid-June, and will target nearly 37,000 storm drains each time. "The larvicide looks almost like hamster food. They only use .7 grams of it and it's strictly put in contained catch basins," he said, adding it doesn't pose a risk to public heath.
The City of Saskatoon has partnered with the University of Saskatchewan for a pilot project aimed at better understanding the debris and pollution that gets into the South Saskatchewan River. Litter and pollutants enter storm drains on city roads and streets, travelling underground and eventually ending up in the river. Saskatoon Water director Russ Munro said the project will use trash traps to apprehend the debris.
Jamie Ruff says he received an upsetting call from his wife last week. In a bid to avoid a large pool of water covering a sidewalk in Marda Loop, near 35th Avenue and 20th Street S.W., she'd climbed into a snowbank and mistakenly fallen in, drenching her clothes in the process. Ruff immediately called the city. The buildup was coming from a blocked storm drain, and as temperatures warm and the snow blanketing the city continues to melt, the run-off had nowhere to go.
An eight inch water line break on Canada Hill (the top of Johnson Avenue) caused minor flooding and damage to the roadway on Friday, March 17. The street was closed near the top of Canada Hill, Holzhey to 4th, while Orofino City crews responded to the area where water was running down Johnson Avenue and across to Main Street. Storm drains were overwhelmed until City crews were able to shut the water off, with some minor flooding being reported.
Canada Geese have been hanging around Portage at a particular spot on Crescent Lake recently. It seems to be due to the provision of open water caused by, of all things, the construction going on on 18th St SW. Water is being pumped from storm drains on the street into the lake, keeping the ice from building up around that location. A hose is running beneath some compacted fill on Crescent Road over to the Lake area.
A pilot project currently underway in Collingwood is putting the contents of the town’s gutters under intense scrutiny. Five women spent a day last week meticulously sorting through the contents several buckets of garbage caught in waste traps installed in eight Collingwood storm drains. They were staff working for Georgian Bay Forever, which is the non-profit organization that brought Gutter Bins to Collingwood, along with a few other plastic/waste diversion initiatives aimed at keeping garbage and microplastics out of Georgian Bay.
One of the bigger infrastructure projects scheduled for 2021 in Pincher Creek is replacing the storm drainage system along Church Avenue, Willow Street and Poplar Avenue. As part of the 2021 capital budget, $377,042.20 will be used to begin replacing the old storm sewer. Pincher Creek’s drainage system is also getting a legal boost after council approved all three readings for a new storm drainage bylaw, Bylaw 1630-21. Among other things, the bylaw lays out what can and cannot be released into storm drains.
