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.
A Memorial University researcher is urging well owners in Newfoundland to make lifestyle changes to reduce the risk of disease caused by arsenic exposure. Atanu Sarkar, an assistant professor in the Faculty of Medicine, says years or decades of drinking water contaminated by arsenic increases the risk of several cancers — including kidney, liver and lung cancer — due to epigenetic changes that occur during long-term exposure. "They're more prone to have cancer in [the] future," Sarkar said.
