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.
The program, now promoted in six Home Depot stores in New York State – Brewster, Nanuet, New Rochelle, Port Chester, West Nyack and Yonkers – encourages its customers to replace outdated fixtures including showerheads, toilets, and smart irrigation controllers with new high-performance models that save water and energy. Customers have redeemed more than 8,000 rebates since the program’s launch in 2017.
