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 province is warning Manitobans to avoid the water at Ninette Beach, on northern Pelican Lake, after high levels of toxic algae were discovered last week. The concentrations of microcystin — an algal toxin that can be harmful to the liver or nervous system if large amounts of water are swallowed — at the southwestern Manitoba beach were "well above the recreational water quality objective," according to Manitoba's latest weekly beach conditions report, which was issued Friday.
Some communities in southern Manitoba are still bracing for more flood impacts while others begin to assess the damage after another storm moved across the region this week. The town of Powerview-Pine Falls has put up barricades to protect its water treatment plant, deputy mayor Lorie Finkbeiner told CBC News. The rural municipality of St. Clements, which held an emergency meeting on Tuesday after Environment Canada issued rainfall and wind warnings across much of southern Manitoba, had no report of damage around the southern basin of Lake Winnipeg, said emergency co-ordinator Tyler Freeman.
