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.
Toxins associated with blue-green algae have been confirmed in Grand Lake, N.S., but the province's Department of Environment is awaiting further test results for pesticides and other chemical contaminants. Those results are expected soon, the department said. In the meantime, people are still being urged to avoid drinking the water in Grand Lake, and avoid any skin contact with the water. "We still want people to be cautious and not use the water," Julie Towers, deputy minister of the Department of Environment and Climate Change, told media outside the East Hants Aquatic Centre in Elmsdale, N.S.
The provincial Department of Environment and Climate Change is advising people in the Shubenacadie Grand Lake area to avoid using lake water over the weekend. The department is investigating water quality after a complaint earlier this week about two dogs dying after being in contact with a substance on the lakeshore. Rapid tests done on water samples from the lake on Thursday, June 10, were inconclusive. However, based on visual evidence from the time the complaint about water quality was made, the incident is being treated as a blue-green algae bloom. Additional test results will be available Monday.
