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 Canadian Coast Guard says it is working to contain and assess an oil spill from a container ship in Vancouver's English Bay. According to the coast guard, a pilot notified them of pollution from a ship around 11:40 a.m PT Saturday. Officials say the spill originated from the container vessel MV Europe, with a slick visible from the air on the water close to Spanish Banks beach.
Volunteers and scientists are in the midst of a six-day "bio blitz" in Vancouver's False Creek, collecting water samples as an initial step toward cleaning up the inlet between Science World and English Bay. The project, running until Wednesday, is a collaboration between local non-profit False Creek Friends, scientists from the Hakai Institute coastal research centre, and the City of Vancouver.
Communities across Canada will head to the water on Sept. 17 for International Coastal Cleanup Day to recover litter from shorelines, parks, and other natural places in their communities. In B.C. the cleanup is planned at English Bay in Vancouver. There are also cleanups planned at Black Rock Beach in Halifax and Woodbine Beach in Halifax. This is also the first year a cleanup will be hosted in the U.S., with details to come. Since 1994, Ocean Wise has organized nearly 1 million volunteers participate in Shoreline Cleanups, collecting more than 2.1 million kg of trash across Canada’s shorelines.
Dozens of volunteers cleaned up several Vancouver beaches Sunday morning after they were left littered with cans, bottles and garbage overnight. Beaches in Vancouver's Kitsilano neighbourhood and at English Bay, which are typically kept clean even during peak season, were both left with unusual amounts of trash on the hottest weekend of summer weather thus far. Locals who volunteered to clean up the mess said they were upset about all the trash. "I'm really disappointed to see it to be honest," said Kassandra Sison as she picked up litter at English Bay. "We're probably going to get at least half a dozen [garbage bags] if not a full dozen if we keep going."
Health officials have closed a number of Metro Vancouver swimming beaches due to high levels of E. coli bacteria. Vancouver Coastal Health says English Bay, Trout Lake, Locarno Beach and Sandy Beach on Bowen Island are closed to swimmers because water samples contained E. coli levels that exceed recommended guidelines. Swimming beaches in Metro Vancouver may be required to close when a single sample finds E. coli levels exceeding 400 in 100 millilitres of water or the geometric mean of five days of samples surpasses 200 E. coli in 100 millilitres.
