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.
Before the 2023 water season, the Main Headworks Canal, located in the Lethbridge Northern Irrigation District (LNID), was shut off so Alberta Agriculture and Irrigation could repair a liner that had been leaking for a few years. The district said when it was turned on in late-April, construction-related leaks were discovered extending the shutdown indefinitely, leaving farmers with just a fraction of their normal irrigation. They are now being told that the Keho Reservoir is also running low.
