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

Nicola River

After the flood: First Nations along B.C.'s Highway 8 work on recovery from disaster and trauma

After the flood: First Nations along B.C.'s Highway 8 work on recovery from disaster and trauma

Chief Arnie Lampreau of the Shackan Indian Band looks across the Nicola River that surged in November, pulling entire homes into its current and forcing residents to flee. Above its banks, the charred remains of yellow pines cover the mountains like burnt matchsticks — relics of a wildfire that roared across the landscape just months earlier. Lampreau grew up in the area along Highway 8 between Spences Bridge and Merritt, B.C., and said he can't help but think of the lush forests that once blanketed the hills.

Moving beyond emissions: How Canada can weather the floods of the future

Moving beyond emissions: How Canada can weather the floods of the future

On Nov. 15, 2021, Kevin Vilac’s phone started ringing at 4 a.m. He was needed at work — urgently. The Coldwater River in B.C. had breached its banks and threatened to overwhelm the city of Merritt’s wastewater treatment plant. Vilac, the chief water operator for the city, rushed to the site to find the lower level of the plant inundated with water. “The worst flood I’d been through prior to this was the flood in 2018 from the Nicola River, and in comparison, it was nothing. It was a mere trickle compared to what we just went through,” he says.

B.C. study links low river flows with lower chinook salmon productivity

B.C. study links low river flows with lower chinook salmon productivity

A study that links low summertime water flows in a British Columbia river with lower productivity across 22 generations of a struggling salmon population could help guide how rivers are managed to support fish, the authors say. The study, published Friday in the journal Ecological Solutions and Evidence, used data from 1992 to 2013 to examine changes in the productivity of early summer chinook in the Nicola River, a tributary of the Thompson River in B.C.'s southern Interior.

‘The power of water is crazy’: Residents across southern B.C. left displaced — and devastated — in wake of storm

‘The power of water is crazy’: Residents across southern B.C. left displaced — and devastated — in wake of storm

In the wake of historic atmospheric river rains that have flooded much of southern B.C., thousands of people have been left displaced, disconnected, and struggling with what to do next.

Thompson-Okanagan region asked to cut water consumption by 30% amid ongoing drought

Thompson-Okanagan region asked to cut water consumption by 30% amid ongoing drought

The B.C. government is asking people in the Thompson-Okanagan region to reduce their water use by 30 per cent during ongoing drought conditions in many parts of the southern and central Interior. The province said Thursday in a written statement very low spring rainfall and extreme heat conditions in June and July have caused water scarcity and low flows.

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