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.
Water management is becoming a hot topic as Spain gears up for regional and municipal elections this month and a national vote later in the year, as farmers and other industries vie for an increasingly scarce resource. Spain has one swimming pool for every 37 residents, and these, too, are now in the spotlight. In Vacarisses, a scattered town of more than a dozen subdivisions with views of the Montserrat mountain range, residents are bracing for another difficult summer after enduring 16-hour water cuts last year when aquifers ran dry.
The 78-year-old Cowichan Valley resident and her husband have both made plans with a local funeral home to dispose of their remains using alkaline hydrolysis, also known as aquamation or water cremation. Mitchell says she’s attracted to aquamation because of her long commitment to reducing her carbon footprint. Flame-based cremation emits around 320 kilograms of CO2 per body, which Mitchell says she’d be “horrified” about. Aquamation uses water, warm temperatures and an alkaline solution, like potassium hydroxide, to break down tissue and bones.
Following public uproar of the Alberta government quietly pulling the 1976 coal policy, opening up more areas of the province for coal mining, a Calgary committee has started work to find out how those changes could affect the city on the Bow and Elbow Rivers. “The good news is, we found out today that although there’s different (land use) categories, the main category of the national parks and everything for our river system in the Bow is not affected with this policy,” Ward 1 Coun. Ward Sutherland said. “Obviously we’re very pleased with that.”
It is to our national shame that many First Nations communities still don’t have access to potable water. That we have known about the problem for decades and failed to address it is a stain on our national character — one that Justin Trudeau and his Liberals made a lot of hay about addressing during the 2015 election campaign. “A Canadian government led by me will address this as a top priority because it’s not right in a country like Canada. This has gone on for far too long,” Trudeau said at the time, pledging to end all boil-water advisories on reserves within five years.
Opposition Green MLA Lynne Lund has asked the province to commit to an interim moratorium on large holding ponds used for irrigation. Lund raised the issue in the legislature Tuesday, saying she'd become aware of a new water holding pond for agriculture being built in Queens County. She said she's been told the pond will require several wells to fill it, arguing it will have the same effect as a high capacity well.
