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.
Walking around Regina's Wascana Creek can be a tranquil, meditative experience — until an offensive odour wafts into your nostrils. For several weeks a potent smell has been coming from parts of the creek — which runs out of Wascana Lake — and the water has been discoloured. The smell and colour are being caused by a buildup of organic matter, according to Kurtis Doney, director of water, waste and environment for the City of Regina.
It’s easy enough to shrug it off when a research paper that involved the study of nearly 400 temperate lakes worldwide identified Wascana Lake as among the leaders in water bodies that are losing oxygen the fastest, both at the surface level and at the lake bottom. While many people might regard the Regina lake as nothing more than a glorified slough unworthy of global consideration, the factors that contribute to its degradation also affect lakes elsewhere in Saskatchewan — particularly the shallow lakes across the southern part of the province — and indeed across much of Canada.
