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

E. coli levels

High levels of bacteria in Lake Ontario closes 3 Toronto beaches

High levels of bacteria in Lake Ontario closes 3 Toronto beaches

Three Toronto beaches have been deemed unsafe to swim due to high levels of bacteria in Lake Ontario on Friday. E.coli levels at Marie Curtis Park East in Mississauga, Sunnyside Beach in downtown Toronto, and Kew Balmy Beach in the Beaches have been labelled as “unsafe to swim” by the City of Toronto ahead of the weekend. E. coli are a bacteria that can cause diarrhea, urinary tract infections, respiratory illness and pneumonia, and other illnesses, according to the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention. The levels are predicted to be above 100 E.coli per 100ml of water, which may pose a risk to human health, according to the city’s water quality data.

High E. coli levels close beaches in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick

High E. coli levels close beaches in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick

During Friday’s sweltering hot weather, some Maritimers visited lakefront beaches and were not able to swim due to high E. coli levels. This was the case for Haja Nabay and her son who stopped by Albro Lake Beach in Dartmouth Friday, only to find out that the beach was closed to swimming due to high bacterial levels deemed unsafe for swimming.

2 beaches closed, swimming not recommended at 4

2 beaches closed, swimming not recommended at 4

Sandpoint Beach and Belle River Beach are closed as both sampled E.coli levels of 1000. While swimming is not recommended at Colchester Beach, Holiday Beach, Point Pelee North West Beach, and Seacliff Beach due to E. coli levels above 200. Cedar Beach and Cedar Island Beach remain open and are safe for swimming. The health unit conducts beach water quality monitoring at eight public beaches at least once a week to ensure the bacterial counts in the water are below provincial standards.

Remediation work at Thunder Bay beaches leads to drop in E. coli levels

Remediation work at Thunder Bay beaches leads to drop in E. coli levels

The Friends of Chippewa Park are hopeful for a surge in visitors to the south-side attraction now that water testing has shown bacteria levels at the Thunder Bay, Ont., park's beaches have dropped. A memo presented to city council Monday night says the two beaches at Chippewa — the main beach and Sandy Beach — as well one at Boulevard Lake have seen major improvements to water quality in recent years.

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