2 August 2012
Gimli, Manitoba
The Government of Canada is committed to the long-term sustainability of Canada's lakes and waterways to ensure that there is clean water for all Canadians, both for this, and future, generations. To this end, Prime Minister Stephen Harper today announced the launch of Phase II of the Lake Winnipeg Basin Initiative (LWBI) with a five-year (2012-2017), $18 million investment through the Action Plan for Clean Water that will focus on improving water quality for people living in the region as well as for fish and wildlife in and surrounding Lake Winnipeg.
The Lake Winnipeg Basin Initiative aims to restore the ecological health of Lake Winnipeg, reduce pollution from sources such as agriculture, industry and wastewater, and improve water quality for fisheries and recreation. The Lake Winnipeg ecosystem supports an annual freshwater fishery of $50 million and a $110 million recreation and tourism industry.
In the first phase of the LWBI (2008-2012), the Government of Canada invested $17.7 million for three types of activities: scientific research ($12.1 million), community stewardship programs ($3.7 million); and collaboration on watershed governance ($1.9 million).
During Phase I, Environment Canada researchers took a strong, science-based approach to investigating water quality issues within the lake and its watershed. Through these efforts, the initiative was able to fill important gaps in research, data collection and monitoring of the lake's ecology and the sources and movement of nutrients that contribute to the formation of the large and persistent algae blooms seen in recent years.
In addition, the Government of Canada is also providing support for community based projects through the Lake Winnipeg Basin Stewardship Fund – part of the Lake Winnipeg Basin Initiative and administered through Environment Canada's Lake Winnipeg Basin Office. The fund is cleaning up Lake Winnipeg by providing support to action-oriented water stewardship projects led by communities, conservation authorities, non-profit organizations and academic institutions.
In addition, Phase I established a formal agreement between the Government of Canada and the Province of Manitoba through a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) that ensured long-term collaboration to improve the health of Lake Winnipeg. Following the establishment of this MoU, the Province of Manitoba also launched its own Save Lake Winnipeg Act (2011) and has invested over $100 million in efforts to improve the health of the lake over the past decade.
Phase II (2012-2017) of the LWBI will build on the scientific accomplishments of Phase I (2008-2012) and move towards taking greater action to address water quality issues, including:
- Targeting the stewardship program to the areas that need funding the most and on actions that have the best possible impact on water quality;
- Implementing greater watershed research and monitoring; and
- Increasing collaboration between federal, provincial and state partners to develop nutrient-reducing agreements.
