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.
St. John's residents will be paying higher property and water taxes in 2024 as the city grapples with higher road maintenance costs and aging snow-clearing and garbage trucks. The residential mill rate is going up by 9.64 per cent, to 9.1 mills. The mill rate increase, plus a 3.4 increase in property assessments, means the average homeowners will see their property tax go up by just over $240 per year. Residential water taxes will go up by $5.
St. John's Mayor Danny Breen says the city is facing a wastewater problem that will cost tens of millions of dollars to fix — and he wants more time from the federal government to do it. Changes to federal government regulations in 2014 required cities to test the levels of suspended solids and chemical biological oxygen demand — essentially, the amount of oxygen needed for organic material to be broken down in water. The levels found in St. John's mean the city has to build a secondary treatment facility by the end of 2020, which Breen said will cost the city about $85 million to build.
