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.
Response teams said they controlled the situation before it reached the provincial parkland and that the substance was non-agricultural source material. "Which is essentially treated organic and other waste that's already ready to go get applied to farmers' fields to fertilize crops, so it was a safe certified material," Watts explained. The agency is doing an assessment, but it's believed a check valve failed at the biosolids complex, causing the overflow.
