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.
Jordan Eleniak, a Métis student who grew up in Lac La Biche, doesn't recall a summer without a blue-green algae bloom. He designed a bacterial fuel cell to help communities forecast them. Blue-green algae are also known as cyanobacteria. Blue-green algae blooms are a natural phenomenon, but when they reach excessive levels, they can become toxic to the environment and to aquatic animals.
The Great Lakes has had a history of high water levels in the spring, posing a significant threat for flooding and shoreline erosion. So, will they be a problem again this spring? In the last 12 months, precipitation has been anywhere between 10-20 per cent below average. However, a lack of precipitation doesn't mean that the lake levels are going to drop in a "big way" immediately, says Weather Network meteorologist and Storm Hunter Mark Robinson.
