Funding announced for 17 projects to reduce nutrient load in Lake Winnipeg

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This article was published 31/07/2024 (423 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

After some disappointment and concerns about ongoing funding to protect water quality in the Lake Winnipeg Basin after the 2021 federal budget, there’s now plenty of confidence about the level of resources that will be available over the next 10 years.

On Tuesday, Terry Duguid, parliamentary secretary to the prime minister and the special adviser for water, announced $2.3 million in funding for 17 projects working to reduce the nutrient load in Lake Winnipeg.

Standing on the shores of the Red River at the University of Manitoba campus, Duguid laid out the government’s $650-million, 10-year commitment starting last year for its renewed national freshwater action plan, which Duguid said was a “major increase in freshwater funding in a very difficult budget year.”

Of that total, $64.5 million will be targeted at collaborative enterprises that work to improve the health of Lake Winnipeg and its ecosystem.

Funding is distributed to groups working to reduce nutrients that get into the lake causing algae blooms that can kill fish and impact tourism. The province wants to reduce the annual phosphorus load on the lake by 50 per cent.

Lake Winnipeg Foundation received $160,000 to continue to operate its Community Based Monitoring Program that’s been operational since 2016 using the efforts of grassroots “citizen scientists” to identify phosphorus hotspots.

Alexis Kanu, executive director of the organization, was critical of the funding that came out of the 2021 federal budget after the Trudeau government had promised $1 billion in support for watersheds over 10 years.

The financial commitment was cut by 35 per cent in 2023 and created a one-year gap in funding and Kanu noted that only one-tenth of the total is coming to Lake Winnipeg.

She said advocacy from her group and others eventually secured the 10 years of financial support.

“I’m really encouraged today now that funding gets put to use,” she said. “It’s not just talk, but we’re putting it into projects on the ground. The 10-year envelope is beneficial to everyone.”

Most of the 17 projects that received funding this year — there will be another round of funding in two years — are engaged in nutrient reduction programs and Indigenous partnership projects.

Derek Kornelsen, who runs a consulting business called Rootstalk Resources, spoke on behalf of David Scott, an elder from Swan Lake First Nation, on their Indigenous-Led and Community-Based Wetland Restoration Youth Program that received $160,000 over two years.

Kornelsen said the program brings Indigenous youth and non-Indigenous youth together in partnership with mainstream groups like Ducks Unlimited and the International Institute for Sustainable Development to educate future land stewards.

He said the program builds relationships and supports deeper understanding of the land among both Indigenous and non-Indigenous youth.

The funding announcements about Lake Winnipeg water management was bolstered by the recent creation of the Canada Water Agency.

Legislation creating the agency was passed last month and will become official in the fall.

With about 100 people to be located in its Winnipeg head office, it will make Manitoba a focal point for water management developments across the country; 20 per cent of the world’s fresh water is found in Canada including Lake Winnipeg, the 11th largest freshwater lake in the world.

It could mean that Winnipeg will have an increasingly strategic presence in the management of a critical global resource.

Duguid said the plan is to hold an official launch of the agency in the fall.

“My hope is to get the prime minister and minister of environment and climate change to be at that launch,” said Duguid.

In addition to funding for the Lake Winnipeg Foundation and the Swan Lake First Nation youth project, other projects that received funding included:

● $205,000 for the Manitoba Association of Watersheds to build water retention sites within the Assiniboine West Watershed District and the Seine Rat Roseau Watershed District, and conservation of riparian areas in the East Interlake Watershed District and Inter-MountainWatershed District;

● $75,000 to the University of Manitoba’s Canadian Watershed Information Network to increase awareness and use of the Canadian Watershed Information Network (CanWIN) online information portal, which enables researchers, government, organizations and community members to share data;

● $275,000 to Ducks Unlimited for a project called Non-Point Source Nutrient Retention in Manitoba to permanently protect intact wetland habitat, ensure more than 10 years security and restoration of affected wetland habitat, and secure and construct retained wetland habitat that would remain protected for more than 20 years; and

● $1.2 million to the Lake Winnipeg Research Consortium (LWRC) Inc. that has been doing scientific research on Lake Winnipeg since 2001. Funding is for four projects including maintenance of a couple of research vessels and research on impacts of aquatic invasive species.

martin.cash@freepress.mb.ca