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.
Some residents of a public housing building near Liverpool, N.S., say they are frustrated after months of murky brown tap water — and they're questioning why they weren't told sooner that it contained high amounts of lead. The tenants of Riverside Apartments in Milton received a boil-water advisory from the Nova Scotia Provincial Housing Agency in early July. The apartments are managed by the provincial government.
David Galvin's water is running for the first time in nearly three months. The long-awaited repairs to pipes at 1083 Main St. E. in Hamilton began last week. While the water is icy cold, with the hot water not yet connected, Galvin said it's proof of what the tenants have been insisting since late December — the work could be done in a matter of days without anyone having to move out.
For 57 days David Galvin has had no running water in his Hamilton apartment. He said he hasn't been able to shower there or properly clean his home since the water was shut off Dec. 28. "I'm emotionally and physically debilitated from the stress," Galvin told CBC Hamilton. "I can't sleep. My guts are all out of order." He's lost hope the water will be turned back on anytime soon — for him or the other tenants who have lived there for years, he said.
When Steven and Diane Hayes look back at the eight years they spent questioning the quality of their drinking water, battling bouts of diarrhea and other stomach troubles, they tell CBC News they still have a hard time believing the people they called friends and whom they trusted — their landlords — were responsible. It's an accusation the Hayes are now trying to prove in a civil lawsuit.
The mayor of Rothesay says she's disappointed apartment owners have decided to pass the cost of switching their buildings to the municipal water system on to tenants.
"I don't think residents can afford that," said Rothesay Mayor Nancy Grant. "I think there might be other ways for apartment owners to handle that."
The city passed a bylaw requiring apartment building owners to switch to the municipal water system from well water and pay a consumption tax based on the amount of water used. Council approved the changes in March and sent a letter to apartment owners.
