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.
After initiating its own wastewater testing for polio last year, Canada has detected two samples of vaccine-derived polio virus type 2 (VDPV2). According to the World Health Organization (WHO) and Pan American Health Organization (PAHO)'s epidemiological update released on Dec. 30, 2022, the virus strain was found in two wastewater samples collected between Aug. 20 and Aug. 30 2022.
Saskatchewan researchers scanning sewers for COVID-19 may soon be on the lookout for other viruses. Wastewater epidemiology teams in Saskatoon and Regina are considering searching for monkeypox and polio, two viruses that are on the rise in North America. “Basically, we’re trying to translate what we’ve done for the SARS-CoV-2 methodology and see how well it works for these other viruses,” said University of Regina biology professor Tzu-Chiao Chao. Wastewater testing looks for traces of viruses or other contaminants in sewage.
After new reports of polio cases abroad, and virus samples in the wastewater of several other developed countries, Canada intends to start testing wastewater from a number of cities "as soon as possible," CBC News has learned. The Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) already works to monitor polio activity around the world, a spokesperson said in an email response to CBC News questions.
As temperatures across Canada continue to rise, few things do a better job of keeping us cool than going for a swim. But with the closure of public swimming pools across the country due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many may be left wondering how safe it will be to return to these spaces once they reopen. According to Matthew Miller, a biochemistry professor at McMaster University in Hamilton who is studying the novel coronavirus, COVID-19 is highly unlikely to be transmitted through water.
