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

City of Kelowna

Scary precipitation stats from Environment Canada

Scary precipitation stats from Environment Canada

Well, the numbers are in, and they should terrify all of us. March was an extremely dry month throughout the Okanagan Valley, with Kelowna experiencing its sixth driest month on record. To the north, Vernon had its fourth driest month on record and Penticton had its second driest March on record, with only 1.8 mm of precipitation compared with an average of 23.6 mm. Those are some troubling numbers, especially when contrasted with a city skyline increasingly dotted with cranes, as Kelowna continues to be one of the fastest-growing cities in Canada.

Kelowna has some of the best tap water in the world

Kelowna has some of the best tap water in the world

Of course Kelowna residents take their water for granted. It's plentiful, clean and cheap. And, as such, we tend to let it flow freely from the tap with hardly a second thought. "Yes, Canadians use a lot of water per capita," said City of Kelowna utility services manager Kevin Van Vliet. "And, in the Okanagan, we're some of the biggest per capita users in Canada because of the irrigation used for agriculture in our hot, dry climate."

Kelowna candidate quiz: Should the city take over more water systems?

Kelowna candidate quiz: Should the city take over more water systems?

Do you think the City of Kelowna should attempt to take over the independent water systems that serve Rutland and Glenmore, as it did with the Southeast Kelowna system, with a view to providing the same quality water throughout the city? Kelowna currently has enough challenges updating its current infrastructure and taking over something that is currently running may not be the answer in today’s world of traffic concerns, municipal transportation challenges and other facility upgrades on the checklist of things we need to focus on.

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