Province vows to save Lake Winnipeg

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This article was published 01/06/2011 (5593 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Faced with a warning that Lake Winnipeg could be rendered a toxic pool, the province vowed Tuesday to fast-track a strategy to save it.

The Selinger government will lay out a strategy in the coming days to save Lake Winnipeg after the release of a five-year study that paints a grim picture of the 10th-largest body of fresh water in the world.

The study, led by University of Regina biologist Peter Leavitt, recommended that phosphorus levels in the lake be cut in half.

He placed most of the blame for rising algae levels in the lake on intensive crop and livestock production in Manitoba.

“If you’re looking for things that you need to regulate to improve water quality, there’s your smoking gun,” Leavitt told a news conference Tuesday.

Researchers examined lake-bottom sediment and analyzed agricultural production data and other information in reaching their conclusions. Levels of lake-bottom mud yield a wealth of information, much like tree rings, Leavitt said.

“We see large increases in hog populations; we see large increases in cattle populations and the timing of these seem to be coincident with changes in the state of the lake,” he said.

The study concluded that 50 per cent of the buildup in phosphorus levels was due to livestock and crop production in Manitoba. Another 25 per cent was put down to a complex set of factors involving climate, land use and drainage, while the remaining 25 per cent was attributed to unknown factors. The area draining into Lake Winnipeg is nearly one million square kilometres and spans several provinces and states.

Farm leaders were surprised by the report’s conclusions and fearful at how government will react.

“Wow!” exclaimed Doug Chorney, president of Keystone Agricultural Producers.

He said previous studies suggested a far smaller role for agriculture in lake nutrient loads. “This is inconsistent with the scientific evidence that we’ve been basing decisions on in the past. So I would question the validity of the report.”

The chairman of the province’s hog lobby group, Manitoba Pork, said his industry is already overburdened by regulation, with more new rules set to kick in in 2013. The province has already placed a moratorium on new hog barns in much of eastern Manitoba.

“We’re really going to keep a close eye on what they’re going to do here,” said Karl Kynoch, who farms at Baldur.

Premier Greg Selinger said the government is committed to the 50 per cent phosphorus-reduction target, adding it will require “a titanic effort.”

Although the report laid most of the blame for nutrient levels at agriculture’s doorstep, the premier said the province will be looking at all sectors. “The reality is that everybody who contributes has to be part of the solution,” he said.

The province is expected to announce the first steps in addressing the problem within days, a source said Tuesday.

Winnipeg water and waste director Barry MacBride applauded the focus on phosphorus removal, which has been the main focus of the city’s $1.8-billion sewage-treatment upgrade.

The city already removes more than half of the phosphorus from its own waste-water stream at the recently upgraded West End Water Pollution Control Centre and plans to do the same at the North End and South End plants, MacBride said.

“We’ve always been in exactly the same lockstep with the province when it comes to phosphorus,” MacBride said.

The city and province have been offside on the removal of dissolved nitrogen. Most freshwater scientists maintain it is pointless to remove nitrogen from the Lake Winnipeg watershed, because toxic blue-green algae can obtain the nutrient directly from the air and may out-compete less harmful forms of algae in a lower-nitrogen environment.

While the report dealt mainly with the phosphorus problem, nitrogen is also a concern, Leavitt said. “The way to think of it is phosphorus is a fire and nitrogen is gasoline,” he said.

Meanwhile the government’s political opponents said the NDP should have taken more action sooner to combat the nutrient problem. Liberal Leader Jon Gerrard said a Lake Winnipeg Stewardship Board report in 2006 should have alerted the government that more action was needed. Tory Leader Hugh McFadyen said the NDP has been promising for 11 years to clean up the lake and failed to do so.

 

— with files from Bartley Kives

larry.kusch@freepress.mb.ca

 

Report highlights

 

Phosphorus levels in Lake Winnipeg should be lowered by 50 per cent to pre-1990 levels.

There are at least three times more nutrients, particularly phosphorus, in the south basin of Lake Winnipeg than in the eastern Great Lakes when they were considered dead in the 1970s.

Algae levels have increased by 300 to 500 per cent in the lake since 1900, while nitrogen-fixing cyanobacteria have increased more than 1,000% since 1990.

Doing nothing could result in Lake Winnipeg’s south basin being overtaken by blooms of toxic algae.

The main culprit for the phosphorus buildup is crop and livestock production within Manitoba. Climate change and nutrients from city of Winnipeg waste are lesser factors.

Lowered levels of phosphorus in Lake Winnipeg would bring about quick improvements to its water quality.

The study concludes that the lake is still relatively healthy and productive. But nutrients present a problem that could reach a tipping point if phosphorus levels are not cut.