Today, a massive, $320-million, multi-decade plan to save Lake Winnipeg is underway, but environmentalists and even Manitoba’s Conservation Minister Gordon Mackintosh say the lake’s contamination would never have reached existing levels if its surrounding wetlands had been left untouched.
Instead, with 75 per cent of the wetlands drained in the name of development and industry, the waterways’ natural ability to retain, release and refresh water over time was compromised and excess phosphorous allowed to flourish.
Closer to Home
With algae blooms already identified in Upper Stoney and Clear Lakes, and in Pigeon Lake – where in 2011 a Peterborough Country-City Health alert advised residents to find alternative sources of water for all purposes, including drinking, washing dishes and clothes, bathing, and providing water to pets — it’s a story we should all be paying attention to.
www.cbc.ca/news/technology/how-blue-green-algae-is-taking-over-canadian-lakes-1.1326761
Friends of the Fraser Wetlands 