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 U.S. government is ordering railway operator Norfolk Southern to clean up contaminated soil and water at the site of a hazardous train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, where officials are trying to convince wary residents their tap water is safe to drink. But the main pathway that dioxin gets into human bodies is not directly through something burning. It's through consumption of meat, dairy, fish and shellfish that have become contaminated. That contamination takes time.
The federal government will spend $43.5 million over five years to establish a Canada water agency that will co-ordinate the more than 20 federal groups, departments and agencies that currently help to regulate freshwater in the country. It will also put in another $8.7 million in ongoing funding. The funding was announced in the Liberals’ 2022 budget and is just some of the money being put into water resources.
The owner of a long-standing marina in Port Stanley, Ont. estimates he faces $150,000 in damages due to flooding caused by an ice jam in the harbour. Warming temperatures and snow melts led to rising water levels beginning late last week. The water carried the ice jam through Kettle Creek in nearby St. Thomas to Port Stanley, leading to the closure of the King George VI Lift Bridge. David McNiece, who owns Stan's Marina, said two metres of water built up around the marina.
Cleanup crews from Hydro One are continuing their work at the Don River on Saturday after an oil spill from one of its transmission sites leaked into the river a day earlier. Nancy Clark, a spokesperson for Hydro One, said one of the company's transformers at the Bathurst Transmission Station in North York failed early Friday, resulting in insulating mineral oil being released.
