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 piece of Canadian radar technology will play a key role in a satellite mission scheduled to launch Friday that aims to study almost all of the Earth’s water surfaces and provide data that will be a boon for Canadian researchers. The Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) mission is led by NASA and France’s space agency –Centre national d’etudes spatiale– with contributions from the Canadian and United Kingdom space agencies.
Given the huge challenges climate change is posing, with unprecedented floods devastating communities across Canada and prolonged droughts contributing to increased wildfire damage and economic losses in agriculture and other economic sectors, reliable forecasts are increasingly important. “This research helps us manage our precious freshwater resources,” said Clark, professor in the Department of Geography and Planning in USask’s College of Arts and Science. “Our streamflow forecasts will help in guiding water use decisions for irrigation and water supplies, optimizing hydropower production, and anticipating flood events.”
