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.
Lithium in particular, she pointed out, leads to a significant amount of water extraction, and can lead to contamination of water supply, which can also impact ecosystems and the species that depend on them. Canada doesn't currently produce lithium, though it has about 2.5 per cent of the world's known lithium deposits. That's a tiny share compared to countries like Bolivia, Australia, Chile and Argentina, not to mention that China controls most of the world's processing capability.
While praising the goals of P.E.I.'s recently released water strategy, some water protection groups have some concerns about how exactly it is going to be implemented. The province announced regulations on its new Water Act would come into effect June 11, which would, among other things, end the moratorium on high-capacity wells for irrigation. Permits for irrigation wells would be tied to the creation of a soil conservation plan, and the province will create an open web site where the public can monitor water extraction from high-capacity wells.
It is disturbing to hear the genuine public concern over high-capacity wells being deliberately misinterpreted as “urban versus rural” and as an attack against farmers. The Environmental Coalition of Prince Edward Island has been working for years to usher in a new era of water protection and conservation, and never once have we opposed farmers. Farmers are important to the economic and social health of the province.
