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.
Kamloops is implementing stricter water use regulations amid worsening drought conditions in the Thompson River, a situation one conservationist says is putting salmon habitat at risk. The new water conservation measures the municipality in B.C.'s Interior is putting in place include a ban on water sprinklers for lawn irrigation. However, watering is still permitted with handheld spring-loaded nozzles.
During an unrelenting stretch of dry, hot weather last August, Rachel Mahannah and her husband spent two hours a day hauling water from their other farm a kilometre and a half away, to make sure their dairy cows didn't get dehydrated. The well on the dairy farm, 70 metres deep, had almost run dry. "That was the first kind of red flag that came up for us," said Mahannah, who co-owns Mahvhays dairy farm in Brigham, Que., about 75 kilometres southeast of Montreal.
Another Manitoba community grappling with low precipitation levels has declared an extreme drought and is asking local residents and businesses to significantly scale back on water usage. Morden declared an extreme drought Tuesday afternoon, citing levels 2.7 metres below normal in Lake Minnewasta, which is where the southern Manitoba city gets its water from. The community and several others in the Interlake and western Manitoba have been experiencing drought conditions for months. Late last week, Morden Mayor Brandon Burley said water supply restrictions were likely on the horizon.
