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.
While Canada and the United States continue to renegotiate an international water sharing agreement, the Regional District of East Kootenay is advocating for consistent water levels on Lake Koocanusa during the summer months. The Columbia River Treaty, a decades-old water sharing and flood management agreement, is currently in the process of being modernized between the two countries, and one of the local sticking points is inconsistent water levels at the Koocanusa reservoir.
