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.
The Junction Creek Stewardship committee is working with landowners along the waterway to help restore shoreline habitat. The effort is part of the Watersheds Canada Natural Edge Program. "When the soil and the sediment erodes into the creek, we have a lot of sediment build up which raises water levels it degrades the quality of there water," said Jessica Damaren, an environmental biologist with the committee.
Toronto is hoping wastewater will be used as an additional tool to track the spread of COVID-19 in the community. Earlier this week, the city’s top doctor said staff would be collaborating with academic partners to launch a pilot project to understand more about this method of surveillance. “What we have figured out thus far is that it does correlate with clinical data,” Dr. Eileen de Villa said Monday at the city’s board of health meeting.
