Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - August 5, 2006, Winnipeg, Manitoba a12 Winnipeg free press saturday August 5, 2006 saturday special its no secret that Lake Winnipeg is sick the problem is figuring out what to do and who should do it Boris Minkevich / Winnipeg free press fresh water foul water in a four Day tour of our ailing Lake Winnipeg writer Bartley Kives finds no shortage of Goodwill from cottagers Beach goers Fishers and Farmers alike. But no solutions either. G Rand Beach ? during their first visit in three years to Mani Tobas most famous strip of Sand Stonewall couple Ivan and Julie Sass sit on a picnic table on the Boardwalk and gaze out toward the Waters of Lake Winnipeg. The late afternoon Sun is beginning to cast Long shadows on the Beach where Ivan and Julie a teenage daughters Are swimming and ogling boys with their friends. Its an idyllic classical summertime scene where Sand and Concrete take on Golden hues in the refracted Light. But it belies an odious fact most Mani to bans know but Don to want to Deal with Lake Winnipeg is suffering from a Nasty Case of eutrophication where super fertilized Waters promote toxic algae blooms that in turn suck oxygen from the Lake changing the makeup of the entire ecosystem. Its hard to look at the Lake on a Day like today and believe its sick says Ivan Sass a Winnipegosis native who grew up alongside big water and has been saddened by reports of Lake Winnipeg a ecological troubles. Three years after the news about toxic algae blooms and Lake Bottom dead zones became widely known the worlds 10th-largest Freshwater body remains threatened by forces biologists and other scientists Are still struggling to observe and understand. After the initial scare about the lakes impending death every level of government has pledged Money and enacted legislation to control the effects of nutrient loading into Lake Winnipeg a sprawling watershed which stretches from Alberta to Ontario and includes parts of Montana Minnesota and both Dakotas. But the 5.5 million people living within this one million Square Kilometre drainage Basin ? All of whom Bear some sort of responsibility for the nutrients harming the Lake ? have not exactly heeded the government Call to arms. Many simply Arent entirely Clear what the problem is which makes sense considering eutrophication in to exactly a household word. Cottagers care More about Lake Levels and eroded shorelines. Beach goers worry about e. Coli bacteria. The nub of the Issue ? a Complex interaction Between nutrients and organisms that May also be compounded by global warming ? is neither intuitively nor easily understood. Still the closer you get to the Lake the More people know about it. During a four Day swing around the lakes Southern Basin in the Middle of july an unscientific Survey of cottagers Beach goers Fishers and Farmers revealed no shortage of Goodwill toward the ailing Lake. But there a also no end of frustration Over what should be done to reduce the nutrients spilling into it ? and who should actually do it despite a detailed list of recommendations made last year by the Lake Winnipeg stewardship Board. The group of politicians scientists Fishers Farmers and other officials was appointed by the province in 2003 and Given the task of reducing nutrient loads in the Lake to 1970s Levels. There a a blame game going on hog and cattle producers feel they be been singled out As pol Luters cities and municipalities grumble about new provincial regulations and Fishers cite just about everybody who a not a Fisher for Messing up their Lake. There Are a number of statistics that can be manipulated by any one group to offload blame to another group but the fact is All of us have some responsibility for nutrient loading on Lake Winnipeg says Don Flaten a University of Manitoba soil scientist whose expertise includes the trans Fer of phosphorus from the land to water. Phosphorus which occurs naturally in Manitoba soil but is also applied in the form of fertilizers is the key villain in the Lake Winnipeg Saga. Although a variety of human sources Are Load ing the Lake with excessive amounts of both phosphorus and nitrogen phosphorus is to blame for the massive blooms of toxic Blue Green algae seen in satellite photos of Lake Winnipeg a North Ern Basin. After decades of nutrient loading there is More phosphorus in the Lake relative to nitrogen which Means conditions Are More favourable to Blue Green algae. Unlike other less Nasty species of algae Blue greens Are Able to get their nitrogen directly from the air. Blue Green algae produce toxins that May kill fish and even mammals but the real danger from the species is what happens when huge quantities of algae die and sink to the Bottom of the Lake. When bacteria digest All that algae they remove so much oxygen that the Lake Bottom becomes inhospitable for oxygen Loving fish and Bottom dwelling invertebrates. And when those species go so May the entire ecosystem ? or at least that a what biologists fear. Now if the source of the phosphorus that sets off this underwater Chain of events were limited to a single City factory or farm there a be a Quick cleanup Job and Lake Winnipeg would be saved rather quickly. The problem with the Lake Winnipeg water shed is there Are a huge number of Small pol Luters says Flaten so its difficult to motivate any of them to make costly sacrifices to reduce nutrient loads such As new sewage treatment systems for cities or manure holding facilities for farms. The City of Winnipeg contributes an impressive sounding 400 tonnes of phosphorus to Lake Winnipeg every year but that amounts to just six per cent of the lakes Overall phosphorus Load of 6,600 tonnes per year according to Lake Winnipeg stewardship Board figures. All of the agricultural land in Southern Manitoba contributes 900 tonnes of phosphorus each year or 14 per cent of the annual Load. And just try to divvy that up among individual Farmers. Meanwhile 3,900 tonnes of phosphorus ? 59 per cent of the total Load ? comes from outside the province further diffusing the responsibility. Lake Winnipeg gets phosphorus everywhere from Edmonton to Atikokan but contributors closest to the Lake endure the greatest scrutiny. Its not a simple problem and i Don to know How to fix it even though i know it has to be fixed says Riverton area Dairy Farmer Ray mond Palsson who tends a Herd of holsteins on a Lakeside plot of land settled by his icelandic Emi Grant Grandfather in 1889. Palsson a cows Graze on some of the nicest real to save a Lake voices from a trip last month around the Southern Basin of Lake Winnipeg estate Ever afforded to cud chewing critters seagulls dive and Waves crash on the Shore right across from his plot Between Hausa and River ton. Given his proximity to the Lake ? and the eyes of a growing number of cottagers ? he a been forced to upgrade his farm under new water stewardship rules. People tend to focus on Manitoba Farmer but the watershed goes All the Way to Alberta and Down to the states he says taking a Short break from his Baler. Yet Manitoba is going to solve the problem All by itself livestock growers feel As though they be been singled out for nutrient loading and tend to shift the attention Back toward cities noting How sewage from Winnipeg Brandon and Selkirk makes its Way Down the Assiniboine and red Rivers into Lake Winnipeg. Urban dwellers Don to understand agriculture Don to appreciate farming and Don to think about where their food comes from says Peter Mah a spokesman for the Manitoba pork Council which is waging a Public relations Battle Over the manure produced by hog barns. Livestock advocates also shift blame for phosphorus to Grain Farmers. Synthetic fertilizers not manure account for 85 per cent of the phosphorus applied to Manitoba Farmland Flaten says. Phosphorus also makes its Way into Lake Winnipeg through natural processes such As atmospheric deposition. Other smaller contributors of phosphorus include Lawn fertilizers used by Homes and Golf courses overzealous land drainage that erodes naturally phosphorus Rich Manitoba soil and heavy Industry. The myriad sources Are bewildering but the end result is All Manitoban must take some responsibility to reduce the Load. The business of blaming is not a useful Pas time says Al Kristofferson chairman of the Lake Winnipeg research consortium which operates the research vessel Namao on the Lake. I Don to think its fair to single out any source or Industry because things change not Only from year to year but season to season.?. next week Fishers Wade into controversy Linda Gingera Winnipeg Ger and lifelong summer visitor to Spruce Sands trailer Park a lakefront resort on the West Side of the Southern Basin. lakefront locale at the Beach at Spruce Sands enjoying a Windy Day with her Hus band and two kids. On the Call to save the Lake for me personally if they would just Tell me what i should do specifically i would just do it. But they just say we should do things differently without saying what it is we should Al Kristofferson the coordinator of the Lake Winnipeg research consortium which operates the scientific research vessel Namao. Lakefront locale in Gimli on the Harbour front pier after the province announced More funding to keep the boat afloat. on nutrient loading in Lake Winnipeg everybody needs to accept the fact the prob Lem is real and they Are contributing to it. They can Start asking them selves what they can do Raymond Palsson third generation Dairy cattle Farmer on the plot of land his Grandfather cleared Between Hausa and Riverton. Lakefront locale on his idyllic lakefront farm Home to 300 Holstein who Graze within sight of Waves and seagulls taking a Short break from his Baler. On new water stewardship rules Farmers must abide by and provincial subsidies for environmental improvements they want us to put in All these upgrades and we re doing them but we can barely afford it even with the help. How to get that through to the Powers that be i Don to Peter Mah director of sustainable development for the Manitoba pork Council. Lakefront locale not quite lakefront but there a a Large outdoor foun Tain in the Transcona Indus trial Park that houses his offices. On the hog Industry a role in nutrient loading there a no question there a a problem with the Lake and Well do our part. But i think agriculture in general has been unfairly targeted. We re highly visible. We re a big target. When an Industry is successful and growing it attracts Robert Kristjanson lifelong Gimli Fisherman and a former member of the Lake Winnipeg stewardship Board. Lakefront locale at his Home in Gimli eating a definitive Manitoba meal of smoked Gold Eye pan Fried Erogies and fresh raspberries. on the health of the Lake after 1969, when a Mercury poisoning scare closed Down the fishery for an entire year we can to blame pulp and paper anymore. We have to blame our selves. Its the cruel one its the person in the Mirror you get to Mike Manning Victoria Beach cottage and Semi retired manager of an occupational rehabilitation business. Lakefront locale standing on the erosion Barrier he a building on the Edge of his property on Pelican Point the southernmost part of Victoria Beach. on Lake Winnipeg a water Quality i Mon the water every Day and i Haven to noticed a thing Over the years. The Lake is Beautiful and i Hope to Heck it stays that ;