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.
Heavy rainfall on Friday and warmer temperatures through the week have parts of B.C.'s Interior and North preparing for the worst, as river levels and flood risk rise. Heavy rain is expected to continue through the weekend and temperatures are forecast to stay in the high teens. Hundreds of properties in B.C. are on evacuation alert, meaning residents should be prepared to leave at a moment's notice.
Water frozen at the tops of mountains that helps sustain up to a quarter of the human population is under threat from climate change, population growth and lack of proper management, according to a new international study. The systems store and transport water through glaciers, snow packs, lakes and streams. They supply water to 1.9 billion people on Earth. A group of 32 international scientists — including one Canadian — published a paper in the journal Nature on Monday to highlight the importance and vulnerabilities of what they call Earth's 78 water towers.
