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.
A Dartmouth, N.S., councillor says work is underway to keep city beaches safe for swimming, including discouraging pigeons from roosting nearby and collecting storm water so it doesn't run into the lakes. But Coun. Sam Austin admits the amount of development around some lakes, such as Lake Banook in Dartmouth, poses significant challenges to water quality this time of year.
Health officials have closed a number of Metro Vancouver swimming beaches due to high levels of E. coli bacteria. Vancouver Coastal Health says English Bay, Trout Lake, Locarno Beach and Sandy Beach on Bowen Island are closed to swimmers because water samples contained E. coli levels that exceed recommended guidelines. Swimming beaches in Metro Vancouver may be required to close when a single sample finds E. coli levels exceeding 400 in 100 millilitres of water or the geometric mean of five days of samples surpasses 200 E. coli in 100 millilitres.
