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.
Department of Environment Energy and Climate Action
A Petro-Canada station in Charlottetown has reported a loss of 4,500 litres of gasoline from its underground storage system, the provincial Department of Environment, Energy and Climate Action said Wednesday. However, an official at the gas station at the corner of Belvedere and University avenues told CBC News the gas is believed to have leaked into a containment tank, so there shouldn't be environmental damage.
P.E.I. environment officials are mulling whether to create a water-use buffer given that farmers will be able to apply to construct more high-capacity wells under the province's impending irrigation strategy. Currently, regulations allow groundwater wells to draw down a waterway by 35 per cent of a stream's base flow in August and September. But Bruce Raymond, manager of water and air monitoring at the Department of Environment, Energy and Climate Action, says officials are weighing whether to only permit 90 per cent of that draw down.
Officials with P.E.I.'s Department of Environment, Energy and Climate Action laid out a bare-bones plan Thursday for how water could be shared among various users — including farmers — once the province's moratorium on new high-capacity irrigation wells ends. The King government quietly signalled the end of the 19-year moratorium earlier this month, introducing changes to regulations under the Water Act that could be implemented in September.
