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.
Councillors want the City of Ottawa to renegotiate its contract with a company offering insurance-like plans for damaged service lines as they demand an end to city-branded mail-outs that have infuriated residents. If that isn't possible, they want the city to break its agreement with Service Line Warranties of Canada (SLWC) altogether.
The City of Chilliwack is moving to stage 3 watering restrictions to conserve water into the fall after a discussion and vote by council Tuesday afternoon (July 19). City council approved extending the summer watering restriction period until Oct. 15, as well as instituting new triggers for implementing further restrictions. “As dry conditions continue throughout the province, there are lots of small actions we can all take to help conserve water,” said Mayor Ken Popove. “For example, you can take shorter showers, turn off the tap when you brush your teeth, only run full loads of laundry or dishes, and regularly check your home for leaks.”
At Esterhazy's town council meeting on June 14, Jon Zapski, the engineer on site for the town’s Water Treatment Plant upgrade, informed council about Phase 2 of the project almost being completed, and discussed the next steps for the project. Phase 2 of the system included building the structure of the water treatment plant building. Council passed a motion to approve construction for Phase 3 of the water treatment plant which will include installing the floor inside the building. After the flooring is done, all of the mechanics for the water system itself will be put in place. “In regards to where the project is moving from here, obviously contract three is going to be out now, but we’re working feverishly on the finalization of the process of equipment selection, and into the process of mechanical tendering and final design drawings. This will be one of the largest contracts for this project and obviously the heart of the entire operation in itself,” Zapski told council members.
Two North Battleford residents hope to see some clarity in their water-sewer bills from the City. Jane Nielsen and Darryl Williams spoke at this week’s council meeting about their concerns with high rates, and questioned why the bills aren’t broken down for water and sewer separately. “It is my opinion, that they should be treated as separate entities, since water consumption and use of the sewer are two distinctly different services,” Nielsen said.
"The local improvement proposed herein involves the renewal of water lines within the L.U.D. (local urban district) of Rapid City," the notice said. It went on to outline the total costs of water main renewals at $7,623,500.00. Federal and provincial funding will pay for more than half of that amount, leaving $2,836,807.25 for taxpayers.
The Cape Breton Regional Municipality water utility and wastewater departments are in process of becoming a regulated commission known as the CBRM Water and Wastewater Commission. It’s the first step by council towards establishing a new governance and operational structure for water and wastewater in the municipality. The changes planned will modify how the delivery of water and removal of wastewater are funded, according to a press release issued by the municipality.
Cambridge council is set to consider a motion that could see public water fountains returned to the city’s downtown. The motion, tabled by Ward 7 councillor Scott Hamilton, is on the agenda for Tuesday’s council meeting. The argument made is, while Canada is home to around 20 per cent of the world’s freshwater reserves, downtown Cambridge is a dry spot when it comes to readily accessible drinking water.
Two water-related notice of motions are slated to come before Chatham-Kent council for discussion and voting May 29. At a recent planning meeting, South Kent Coun. Ryan Doyle announced he is bringing forward a motion on the Aqua City inflatable play park proposed for Erieau beach. The motion involves approvals on storage facilities for Aqua City on municipal land, profit sharing with the Erieau community, as well as the federal and provincial parameters that must be met. As well, North Kent Coun. Rhonda Jubenville is bringing forward a motion to encourage the municipality to revisit the water wells issue in Dover and the former Chatham Township, coming on the heels of recent independent well testing that found heavy metals in the sediment that may be bio-accessible to humans and harmful to health.
Township of Leeds and the Thousand Islands will consider proceeding with an amendment to increase the Permit to Take Water (PTTW) for the Lansdowne water system with the Ministry of Environment, Conservation and Parks. And they’ll consider proceeding with a hydrogeological study to determine that suitable groundwater exists to accommodate future growth. The Committee of the Whole has recommended that council allocate a budget of up to $180,000 from the Water Reserve Fund to fund the hydrogeological study.
St. Albert city council unanimously granted a water project an exemption to the city's own sustainable building policy on April 18, after city staff recently noticed the project's design potentially wasn't up-to-code environmentally. Despite the $33 million budget, the Sturgeon Heights Reservoir and Pump Station replacement project, which is already under construction, would need an estimated maximum of $1 million in additional funding if it were to be green certified as all new municipal buildings must be under the city's Sustainable Buildings Policy.
Council has drowned a staff proposal for in-house water billing, following pleas from an EPCOR chief executive officer to stay the course and continue paying them to provide the billing service. EPCOR chief executive officer Susannah Robinson spoke on Monday (March 21) to ask council to consider not making a town-staff-recommended move to switch water and wastewater billing in-house, following a split committee vote earlier this month.
A City of Ottawa task force is monitoring water levels ahead of the spring thaw and says there's no major flooding in the immediate forecast — but that could change in the weeks ahead. Water levels are currently normal or close to normal, according to the joint Thursday memo from public works general manager Alain Gonthier and Kim Ayotte, general manager of emergency and protective services.
Spoiler alert, the rates are rising. Expect to see a 2.1 per cent increase in your water bill throughout the year. This rate hike is identical to last year’s increase which was also 2.1 percent. This is no coincidence, as back in 2019 the town adopted a financial plan, and soon after implemented an asset management plan. These plans outlined strategies for rehabilitating old infrastructure within the municipality, including water and sewer. In 2020, the water financial plan was adopted, which recommended an annual increase in the water levy of 2.1 per cent, and that rate is in place until 2026.
Smart water meters and asset management are some items on the agenda for Regina city council's meeting Wednesday afternoon. Last week, the city's executive committee signed off on new bylaw amendments to help introduce new smart water meters in every home and business in the city. According to a report by city staff presented to the executive committee, the new meters align with the city's goal of reaching net-zero emissions by 2050. On Wednesday, council must decide whether to approve the changes.
Durham Regional Council has reversed recent changes, related to the limits of responsibility for repairs on private property related to sanitary sewer service connections within the Sewer User Rate By-law, which came into effect on July 1, 2022. Effective immediately, the Region of Durham will continue to carry out repairs to sanitary sewer service connections, on private residential property to within one metre of the structure, in accordance with By-law #90-2003.
Barrie’s residential tenants owe the city more than $323,000 in water and wastewater billing arrears. A recent report to City of Barrie council broke down the cost of running a decade-old municipal water billing program intended to make property owners fully responsible for any unpaid charges incurred by their tenants.
Water treatment, pipes, and school road safety will all be up on the docket for councillors this week. The council will discuss the alternative approval process for the finances of a waste water facility upgrade, and a school road safety project. They will also be discussing the roll-out of a 10-year financial plan for upgrading downtown Revelstoke’s water pipes. The wastewater treatment plant upgrade and school road safety project are both on hold because the council cannot adopt a new bylaw until residents of voting age give their approval. To get the approval, the council is using an alternative approval process (AAP).
Whitehorse city staff have asked council to approve $3.15 million in capital funding to pay for costs associated with the recent landslides in the city, and to start engineering designs to fix a water line and a sewer line. Staff asked for $2.3 million to cover the costs associated with the landslides. So far, the city has spent $1.6 million on building a protective berm on Robert Service Way, inspections, engineering and security, but more bills are expected for the cleanup, repair and precautions put in place.
The Blue Mountains council wants more information before it will consider assuming ownership of a privately owned water system. At its committee of the whole meeting on May 16, council voted to get more information about the East Ridge water distribution system before it makes a decision about whether or not to assume ownership of the private water system.
