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.
Of course Kelowna residents take their water for granted. It's plentiful, clean and cheap. And, as such, we tend to let it flow freely from the tap with hardly a second thought. "Yes, Canadians use a lot of water per capita," said City of Kelowna utility services manager Kevin Van Vliet. "And, in the Okanagan, we're some of the biggest per capita users in Canada because of the irrigation used for agriculture in our hot, dry climate."
