WINNIPEG – Looking for something to read while waiting for water on farmland to dry up?
Manitoba Agriculture has just the thing. This week, extension offices will have a guide available for farmers who were flooded this spring.
“It’s sort of what to do when the water goes down: where to send your water samples for testing, that sort of thing,” said Dave Campbell, chief of the soils section in the department.
The government is waiting for land to dry before making an estimate of how many acres were affected. “We have a sense that it’s not a huge acreage that we’re dealing with, but there’s flooded lands in the Souris and the Assiniboine (river valleys),” Campbell said.
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The natural resources department reports that water levels have dropped at least a foot from their peak on the Assiniboine River in Western Manitoba.
“There’s a few frustrated people, but things are generally looking better,” said Rick Bowering, a river forecaster with the department.
Hayfields flooded
Levels on Dauphin Lake should peak this week, and some hayfields around the lake will be flooded. “We want to go out this week and have a good look because levels haven’t been this high for some time,” Bowering said.
People affected by flooding in the Assiniboine River valley can expect things to start drying out in June. Bowering said his department plans to draw down water levels in the reservoir of the Shellmouth Dam, possibly around May 28 if the weather stays dry.
“The plan is to cut flows to well below channel capacity so that the water can drain off of the land on the flood plain there.”
