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 National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is predicting a moderate bloom with a severity level of 2-6 on a scale of 1-10 for western Lake Erie this summer. The U.S. federal agency issued a bulletin last week after collecting data of phosphorus discharge into the Maumee River which dumps into the lake. "The range in forecasted severity reflects the uncertainty in forecasting precipitation for late June and July," the NOAA bulletin stated.
