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.
For the past 14 years, Andrew Brant and many others on Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory have had to haul all their water to their homes one jug at a time. His arms, and those of most fellow residents, will get a well-deserved break as the southeastern Ontario First Nation west of Kingston lifted five long-term water advisories on March 28 as they expanded connections to a new water treatment plant. The advisories had been in place since 2008.
The mayor, Michel Angers, says he can't make information about the plant's problems public because the city is considering legal action. Grégoire's husband, Eric Bonfanti, wonders whether a push to save money led the city to choose the wrong firm to design the plant. He wants the mayor to make expert analyses public so he can judge for himself. "Most people aren't idiots,"' Bonfanti says. "'If you made a mistake, admit it!"
For one thing, the majority of homes do not have drinkable running water at Six Nations. Yes, we did get a water treatment plant and yes, it's operational but hooking your house up if you're currently not on the system costs anywhere between $8,000-$10,000 depending on how far your house is from the water main. At the old farm house, we have a cistern that gets filled once a month as we do all the cleaning and bathing with trucked-in water. Rez connections are such that I text one of my cousins and he brings it on demand. Once a week, we fill two 22-litre water jugs for drinking water at a water supplier on Chiefswood Road (also another cousin).
Iqaluit's water crisis has so far cost the municipality more than $1.5 million. And this is only the start. City councillors will hold a special meeting on Friday to formalize a request for assistance from the Government of Nunavut to help cover the cost. The meeting's agenda includes a breakdown of the costs incurred so far.
Eabametoong First Nation, an Ojibway community that sits about 360 kilometres north of Thunder Bay, passed a band council resolution declaring a state of emergency Friday after water test results showed levels of trihalomethanes (THMs) between 122 to 182 per cent above Health Canada safety standards.
Yesno said residents are also reporting a foul smell coming from the community's tap water.
A Calgary mom was unnerved to find out she and her two young children may have been drinking and bathing in lead-contaminated water at their home for the past year — and hundreds of other Calgarians are in the same boat. "It's just unnerving that we've been there for a year and that we could have been drinking lead water for the last year. There's a bit of a panic," she said, adding the situation feels out of her control because the rents the house, which is in Hillhurst.
