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.
Canada is privileged to have abundant clean drinking water, but that’s not the case globally. Nearly one-third of people worldwide don’t have access to clean drinking water due to microbes and other contaminants, a problem that Manoj Singh thinks he can solve with technology. Singh founded Acuva in 2014 with a mission to enable clean drinking water using technology and so far he’s secured $8.4 million in growth financing to do it.
Wetlands provide water cleaning, provide habitat, and help mitigate the impact of storms, yet have been considered lesser quality lands for many years. Because of this, they have degraded substantially in Canada and throughout the world. The Great Lakes Marsh Monitoring Program (GLMMP) began more than 25 years ago, in 1995, and works with both professional and citizen scientists to monitor the health of wetlands in the region.
