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.
But this year, Costa said, he's been seeing some of the lowest flow rates on the river he can ever recall. "The river finds its way lower and lower and lower," Costa said. "In fact, to the point that as low as it is now, I won't even fish it. Because the fish are too stressed, and they're in oxygen debt." What's happening in this section of the Oldman River comes as no surprise, experts say, and the effects of climate change could lead to water shortages across Alberta in years to come.
