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.
high levels of bacteria in the water
The Halifax Regional Municipality (HRM) has closed Chocolate Lake Beach for swimming after confirming high levels of bacteria in the water. In a news release, HRM said recent test shows bacteria levels at the beach exceed Health Canada’s swimming guidelines. The beach is closed for swimming until further notice. However, HRM staff will continue testing the water until bacteria levels return to safe levels and will notify the public.
Halifax Regional Municipality has closed two supervised beaches to swimming until further notice because of high bacteria levels in the water. The municipality announced Saturday that bacteria levels at Kinap Beach in Porters Lake exceed Health Canada’s swimming guidelines. Friday evening, the municipality issued a news release saying Penhorn Lake Beach in Dartmouth had been closed. HRM regularly tests the water quality at all supervised municipal beaches, as well as two unsupervised beaches, during the summer.
