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.
Low water flow in the Bow River has forced the Eastern Irrigation District (EID) to issue a water use restriction for the County of Newell. The EID says they have seen a dramatic drop in average river flow levels in both the Bow River and Highwood River this year. In a typical year flow in the Bow River starts to drop off by the middle and end of July. This year the EID says the Bow River dropped by the beginning of June.
The Grand River Conservation Authority is urging people and businesses along the watershed to drop their water usage by 20 per cent. This week, the low water response team placed the entire watershed at level two. It means the authority is asking all water users — municipalities, aggregate operations, golf courses, water bottlers, farms for irrigation and private users — to decrease the amount of water they use. The last time a level two was declared for the entire watershed was 2016.
B.C.’s opposition parties want the government to extend — for a second time — an approaching groundwater licensing deadline, warning of a looming crisis for local farms and small businesses. “We are just deeply concerned,” said Shirley Bond, the interim leader of the BC Liberal Party, in an interview. “We want them to extend the deadline, but additionally we want them to do a better job of getting the information out there and finding people who haven’t registered and help.”
