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.
Calgary is lifting city-wide outdoor water restrictions put into place this summer. The Stage 1 outdoor water restrictions were declared on Aug. 15 amid dry conditions and record-low natural flow levels on the Bow and Elbow rivers. At the time, the city said it was an important measure to help sustain Calgary’s water supply in the Glenmore Reservoir.
It’s been 10 years since the historic floods of southern Alberta that were deadly, expensive and resulted in the first ever declaration of a State of Provincial Emergency in Canadian history. Over 100,000 people were evacuated from their homes in communities throughout southern Alberta and five people lost their lives. There was more than $5 billion dollars in damages and 55,000 square kilometres of land was directly impacted by the floods; an area nearly 70 times the size of Calgary.
