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CANADIAN INDUSTRY ONLINE - JUNE 2013
PARTNER NEWS
MANITOBA CHAMBERS
The Central Great Plains Sustainabil-
ity Imperative – Lake Winnipeg Basin
The Urgency
Over the last twenty years, it has been
scientifically demonstrated that the in-
creased area of algal blooms and grow-
ing presence of toxic cyanobacteria in
Lake Winnipeg are a warning of larger
eco-hydrological problems not just in
the immediate Lake Winnipeg Basin, a
1
million sq/km watershed, in the cen-
tral Great Plains region which extends
over four Canadian provinces and four
American states. Major spring flood-
ing throughout the region has been
increasing in the past decade setting
new records. Climatic influences are
likely to exacerbate already existing
problems. Associated with this is large
scale land-use changes and altered
hydrologic patterns and the fact that
recent research shows that the spring
floods create a wash effect flushing ni-
trogen and phosphorous to Lake Win-
nipeg.
The floods of 2011 cost the Province
of Manitoba alone a billion dollars and
North Dakota and Saskatchewan costs
are in the same range. There is grow-
ing concern that the cost of persistent
ongoing flooding and related damage
may in time be substantial enough in
this region to make it difficult to sus-
tain prosperity as we know it today
and still keep population centres, na-
tional transportation systems and oth-
er crucial infrastructure in functional
repair.
The fear is that the economies of south-
ern Manitoba and areas in the Red
River Basin in the United States may
ultimately be so damaged by these
combined ecological, hydrological and
climatic influences as to impoverish
them. A 500 year level flood would
cost $11-13 billion dollars in the United
States portion of the Red River basin
alone.
There is considerable public aware-
ness of the deteriorating state of Lake
Winnipeg but the concerns are largely
focused locally on environmental
problems. The increasing vulnerability
of the central Great Plains to extreme
weather events, however, is quickly
becoming a threat not just to the en-
vironment but to the economic well-
being of the entire region. In order to
protect the existing economy of the
region, it will be necessary to develop
agricultural systems that are more re-
silient to extreme weather events. In
order, however, to preserve the eco-
nomic future of southern Manitoba
and surrounding areas the region will
have to be re-engineered from a hydro-
logical perspective. Such bold action
could have dual benefits. While clearly
required to protect the economy of
the Great Plains, hydrological reengi-
neering of the region is likely the only
means by which there will be any hope
of restoring Lake Winnipeg to any
semblance of its original health.
Important Pieces Are Already In
Place
Many important elements required
to address this problem are already
in place. Highly qualified and very
resourceful people are committed to
understanding and acting upon the
Lake Winnipeg pollution situation. The
Government of Manitoba is commit-
ted to addressing the problem. Good
science exists and, despite devastat-
ing federal cut-backs to government
PARTNER NEWS
