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.
In late October the largest pond at Miner's Marsh, along the Cornwallis River, was mostly dry after a year of dropping water levels, with the bottom sunbaked. While dozens of ducks and geese would normally have spent time there in the fall on their way south for the winter, only a handful of birds were walking through the water, most of it too shallow for swimming. The summertime population of ducks also seemed lower.
As floodwaters continue to recede, the Town of Fort Frances, Ont., has begun cleaning up and making infrastructure repairs. But that will take some time. "The problem with doing all of these repairs is ... the water is going down, but it's still very high," said Travis Rob, Fort Frances's manager of operations and facilities. "So we really can't start any of this work until the water reaches that normal level.
The Portage Diversion will be closed Saturday due to declining water levels on the Assiniboine River but the floodway will remain open, according to a release by the province. A flood warning continues for the Red River from Emerson to the Red River Floodway channel inlet. The province said the Red River is expected to peak sometime between April 20-22 in Emerson with peak flows ranging from 20,000 and 24,300 cubic feet per second.
Halifax’s vanishing Williams Lake could fill up again with a little help from the city, according to nearby residents. The water level had dropped by about 1.3 metres since late May when The Chronicle Herald featured one of the city’s favourite swimming lakes literally drying up on its front page in early September. But now a potential fix is being investigated for a dam that’s allowing water to flow too quickly to the sea.
