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.
When Ottawa was hit by more than 75 millimetres of rain last week it filled a $232 million sewage tunnel, sending nearly 316 million litres of raw sewage into the Ottawa River. Unfortunately, it's not unexpected or unusual. "It was always known that if there were very large storms the city would be faced with a choice of either flooding sewage into people's basements or into the river," explained Dianne Saxe, a former environmental commissioner and the last person to hold that provincial post.
Eabametoong First Nation, an Ojibway community that sits about 360 kilometres north of Thunder Bay, passed a band council resolution declaring a state of emergency Friday after water test results showed levels of trihalomethanes (THMs) between 122 to 182 per cent above Health Canada safety standards.
Yesno said residents are also reporting a foul smell coming from the community's tap water.
