Shoal Lakes wind down expansion

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This article was published 17/05/2011 (5469 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

RM of ARMSTRONG — After swallowing up thousands of acres of Interlake pastureland over the past 10 years, the Shoal Lakes are finally expected to stop expanding in early June.

But ranchers who’ve lost land and income to this growing body of water — which used to be three separate lakes — would still like to see the province find a way to reduce the lake.

Like Devils Lake in North Dakota, the Shoal Lakes have no outlet. After several unusually wet years, what used to be West, East and North Shoal Lakes grew together and began spreading over roads, farms and undeveloped Crown land.

Now, the Shoal Lakes are only six vertical inches away from rising to the point where the lakes will spill into Grassmere Creek, which flows into the Red River at West St. Paul.

Manitoba Water Stewardship expects this spill to take place within 15 to 24 days, as the lake is rising about an inch every three days.

“The Grassmere drains through agricultural land and enters the Red River at West St. Paul so there are concerns to the degree it spills, how it will impact agricultural land and residential homes in West St. Paul,” Steve Topping of Manitoba Water Stewardship said.

The spill, however, will be gradual and should not threaten any properties in West St. Paul, Topping added.

Late last week, when winds blew heavily from the northwest, the Shoal Lakes began spilling into Grassmere Creek.

Future spills will flow at a rate of about 50 to 100 cubic feet per second, which will not tax Grassmere Creek. It has a capacity of about 1,000 cfs at West St. Paul, Topping said.

The province has a plan in the event the flows are higher, emergency measures director Chuck Sanderson added.

“There are private homes and discussions have already occurred at the municipal level about these possibilities and they’ve got their plans in place. If that were to happen, they would implement their action plan in the appropriate amount of time,” Sanderson said.

West St. Paul Mayor Bruce Henley said Monday he was not aware of the limited spill last week, but added he trusts Water Stewardship’s information about the flows from the Shoal Lakes.

“There isn’t a lot we can do at this point,” Henley said. “But they’ve told me they didn’t want this to be a long-term solution.”

People living around the Shoal Lakes, however, are skeptical the province will allow the lakes to drain.

John Dyck, who has lost about 800 of his 1,200 acres to the flood waters, said he fears the province will dike the southeast rim of the Shoal Lakes to prevent them from draining into the Red River.

Even if the lakes spill into Grassmere Creek, they will not recede to the point where he an estimated 120 other land-owners can reclaim their land, Dyck said.

“We need it to be three feet lower,” he said, fearing a plan to drain the Shoal Lakes into Lake Manitoba is dead.

“They’ll never drain it to Lake Manitoba now, with all the cottages flooding over there.”

The price tag for a drain into Lake Manitoba could be as much as $24 million.

Some Shoal Lakes-area farmers have asked to be bought out, while others want to remain, with compensation.

 

bartley.kives@freepress.mb.ca alexandra.paul@freepress.mb.ca