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.
Blue-green algae blooms in parts of Lake of the Woods can change the appearance of the water and these blooms have the potential to cause some harm to pets or people who choose to take a drink or a swim. Blue-green algae blooms are common in parts of the lake, which straddles Ontario, Manitoba and Minnesota. However, they are generally not seen late in the year or in some of the locations they are now being found. As well, the blooms can be toxic.
Blue-green algae has returned as the main suspect in the Grand Lake water contamination saga. “The National Research Council lab did confirm that there are what are known as … the toxins associated with blue-green algae that were collected on Friday,” Julie Towers, deputy minister of the provincial Environment Department, said at a news conference in Elmsdale on Tuesday afternoon.
The provincial Department of Environment and Climate Change is advising people in the Shubenacadie Grand Lake area to avoid using lake water over the weekend. The department is investigating water quality after a complaint earlier this week about two dogs dying after being in contact with a substance on the lakeshore. Rapid tests done on water samples from the lake on Thursday, June 10, were inconclusive. However, based on visual evidence from the time the complaint about water quality was made, the incident is being treated as a blue-green algae bloom. Additional test results will be available Monday.
In October, more than 250 members of the Neskantaga First Nation were evacuated to Thunder Bay after an oily sheen was found on their reservoir. The discovery left the community, located in northern Ontario, without access to running water. The evacuation drew attention to the federal government’s 2015 commitment to end all on reserve long-term drinking water advisories (in place for more than one year) by March 31, 2021. Neskantaga has been living under a boil-water advisory for 26 years.
