A $100 million drainage channel to lower water levels in Lake Manitoba is now open and moving water toward Lake Winnipeg, Manitoba premier Greg Selinger announced yesterday.
“Building this channel was an enormous undertaking completed in a very short period of time,” said Selinger, who visited the construction site at Lake St. Martin, a small lake 300 kilometres north of Winnipeg between Lake Manitoba and Lake Winnipeg.
“This emergency project will allow us to drain water from Lake Manitoba and Lake St. Martin throughout the winter to get people back in their homes sooner and minimize the risk of severe spring flooding next year.”
The Manitoba government decided to build the 6.5 km drainage channel in July because water levels in Lake Manitoba exceeded 817 feet above sea level this summer, nearly five feet higher than the maximum regulated levels for the lake. The exceptionally high water levels flooded pastures, hay land, farmyards and cottages around the lake, forcing residents to leave their homes and move livestock to higher ground.
The government will use the channel to lower water levels in Lake St. Martin, which, in turn, will allow the province to release more water through the Fairford Dam, an outlet at the north end of Lake Manitoba that drains into Lake St. Martin.
When the province announced it would build the channel, Selinger said the federal government would pick up 90 per cent of the cost under the Disaster Assistance program
However, the federal government hasn’t yet committed to pay the lion’s share of the drainage project.
