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.
The water was drinkable, but not palatable to people in Melbourne last October. Yellow water in Southwest Middlesex had many concerned about its safety. Average daily water flow out of the Melbourne standpipe was down 94 percent in October. Mayor Alan Mayhew brought up the issue during a presentation by Sam Smith with the Ontario Clean Water Agency at the March 23 council meeting. The Tri-County Water board is doing a study to see if the discolouration could be avoided.
