Nicole Hancock
Indigenous community hosts full moon ceremony ...

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.

Indigenous community hosts full moon ceremony to heal Chedoke Creek

sewer clogs

Kingston residents asked to stop dumping grease down the drain

Kingston residents asked to stop dumping grease down the drain

Utilities Kingston has launched a new video campaign reminding residents and restaurants to stop dumping cooking grease down the drain. The YouTube video shows a utility worker wading through murky, knee-deep water to clear a sewage blockage inside a sewage pumping station. "It's toilet waters and solids, anything going down someone's kitchen sink or coming out of someone's washing machine," said Heather Roberts, director of waste and water services for Utilities Kingston, describing the water in the video.

Needles in sewage adding new hazards

Needles in sewage adding new hazards

The issue of non-flushables, such as wet wipes, plaguing wastewater authorities across Canada has added a new concern as Canada’s opioid crisis is resulting in more spent needles in sewer clogs. “We are running into more needles because of the opioid crisis and there are needles galore in the sewage system,” said Barry Orr, who for more than a decade has been Canada’s leading voice in the fight against non-flushables, a member of an international committee concerned about non-flushables and establishing standards for what is deemed flushable in sewer lines. He is currently the sewer outreach and control inspector for the London, Ont.

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