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Lake Winnipeg cleanup pledged
WAYNE.GLOWACKI@FREEPRESS.MB.CA Enlarge Image
At right, Vic Toews, Minister of Public Safety and Christine Melnick, Manitoba's Minister of Water Stewardship sign a Canada-Manitoba memorandum of understanding respecting Lake Winnipeg and the Lake Winnipeg Basin at a ceremony at The Forks Monday. In back are MPs James Bezan (left) and Rod Bruinooge.
WINNIPEG - Ottawa and the province pledged today to do more to clean up Lake Winnipeg.
An agreement was signed by senior Manitoba MP Vic Toews and Manitoba Water Stewardship Minister Christine Melnick at an event at The Forks.
Melnick said the agreement provides the groundwork for the creation of a single authority to oversee the health of Lake Winnipeg. That could include reviewing new cottage developments in the south basin of the lake to controlling agriculture drainage in the Red River Valley.
The Memorandum of Understanding signed Monday remains in force for five years with an option to extend it for another five years following a review of its effectiveness.
Water quality in the lake has deteriorated in the past few years due to excessive nutrients like phosphorus and nitrates that cause large algal blooms.
The federal government also announced $875,000 in new funding for 20 projects aimed at cleaning up the lake, the 10th largest freshwater lake in the world. Details of the projects can be found online.
The projects include getting more people to use household products that contain less contaminants and using plants and natural drainage systems to clean runoff water before it enters rivers and the lake. The money is provided through the Lake Winnipeg Stewardship Fund.
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