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 Town of Mattawa is moving the August water bill to September. Revenue Services Clerk Amy Leclerc noted that without the change, the current by-law could “put undue hardship on the ratepayers,” and “we feel that it’s important to change the final water billing to September.” This past February, council adopted the 2023 water rates with a new by-law, and within that law, the water and wastewater bills for both flat rate bills and metered bills, both share the same deadline – August 31.
Mike Voth, the city's director of corporate revenue said the unfortunate situation is a combination of yearslong unnoticed water leak and a lack of access to the property. For roughly four years, the property was on an automatic billing cycle based on estimated usage, not actual water usage during that time. Once the city worker plugged in the new numbers, the difference between the paid amounts and the actual usage was realized. The culprit seems to be an upstairs toilet that was leaking for potentially years. Nguyen called a plumber and had the small leak fixed in roughly 15 minutes. "It's quite amazing what a 24-hour, seven-day-a-week leak, how much water can be used or consumed in this case," Voth said."Over the course of several years, unfortunately, that's the gap between what was billed and paid for and what was actually passing through the meter and being used."
A Winnipeg man who is trying to get vacant homes fixed up and back on the market is running into a major roadblock. He’s received a $10,000 water bill, even though he says the building hasn’t had water in years. “I was shocked to see that $10,000, it was actually 11,000 and they told me they shall give me a breakdown of 1,000,” explained Mohamud Noor Mohamud. “Now it’s almost 10,000 water bill, plus the previous landlord’s bill, they sent for me, for 1,500.”
Spoiler alert, the rates are rising. Expect to see a 2.1 per cent increase in your water bill throughout the year. This rate hike is identical to last year’s increase which was also 2.1 percent. This is no coincidence, as back in 2019 the town adopted a financial plan, and soon after implemented an asset management plan. These plans outlined strategies for rehabilitating old infrastructure within the municipality, including water and sewer. In 2020, the water financial plan was adopted, which recommended an annual increase in the water levy of 2.1 per cent, and that rate is in place until 2026.
Fourteen years after Hurricane Ike ripped through thousands of homes and businesses near Galveston, Texas – but mostly spared the region’s oil refineries and chemical plants – the U.S. House of Representatives voted Thursday to authorize the most expensive project ever recommended by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to protect against the next raging storm.
The Nova Scotia Utility and Review Board has denied an appeal from a Bridgetown church that received a hefty water bill from the Municipality of the County of Annapolis following a burst pipe that went undetected. St. James Anglican Church received a water bill of $5,485 this spring after a pipe burst while the church was shut down in the winter due to COVID-19.
Canadians living in the Great Lakes basin have perhaps become spoiled at the seemingly endless availability of water. In taking it for granted, topics like the material cost of it or the amount listed on someone’s water bill can be seen as immaterial and unnecessary to discuss. But in many respects, water is also a fairly traditional resource commodity, one that governments have invested billions in maintaining. There’s a cost to all this, and not just for the liquid itself.
The average Hamilton home will be charged $39.05 more for water next year, but city officials insist the increase is necessary to do infrastructure upgrades, handle climate change, and clean up Hamilton Harbour. City council approved a 4.98 per cent increase to local water bills Wednesday, despite numbers that show people are getting better at conserving water. And Hamilton Water staff predict even steeper increases every year until 2026.
Iqaluit's city council voted unanimously Tuesday to provide a water rebate for residents. Nearly 8,000 residents were ordered not to drink the tap water when fuel was discovered in one of the city's two water tanks at its water treatment plant earlier this month. The 100 per cent rebate was proposed by Mayor Kenny Bell. It will cost the city over $965,000 in revenue for the month of October.
