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.
Once salt permeates a drinking water system, it tends to remain there unless treated by a cost-prohibitively expensive system which also robs drinking water of healthy minerals. So describes City of Greater Sudbury water treatment manager Julie Friel while reflecting on the city’s latest annual water quality report, released earlier this week.