The Manitoba government is digging a $100 million channel to lower record water levels that flooded farms and forage land around Lake Manitoba this spring and summer.
The emergency channel, which will drain Lake St. Martin into Lake Winnipeg, is necessary because doing nothing is not an option, said Manitoba premier Greg Selinger.
“If no action is taken now hundreds of properties (around Lake Manitoba and Lake St. Martin) will be threatened by flood waters for an extended period,” Selinger said in a news conference to announce the project.
Read Also
Phosphate prices to remain high
Phosphate prices are expected to remain elevated, according to Mosaic’s president.
Water levels in Lake Manitoba reached 817 feet above sea level in July, nearly five feet higher than the maximum regulated level for the lake.
The rising water swallowed up pastureland and hay land that surrounds the lake, forcing cattle producers to move stock inland or relocate herds to other locations on the Prairies.
Farmers, residents and cottage owners held meetings this spring to express their anger about the flooding. Many people believed high lake levels were caused mainly by the provincial government’s decision to divert flows from the Assiniboine River into Lake Manitoba.
Water from Lake Manitoba and the surrounding watershed also flooded the community around Lake St. Martin.
Lake Manitoba drains into Lake St. Martin through a control structure at Fairford, Man.
The province’s plan is based on the recommendations of two engineering consulting firms, which the government hired following this spring’s flooding.
The Lake St. Martin to Big Buffalo Lake emergency channel, which will be eight kilometres long, 90 metres wide and seven metres deep, will be able to handle 9,000 cubic feet per second of water.
Once in Big Buffalo Lake, the water will follow natural channels to the Dauphin River, which drains into Lake Winnipeg.
The work is expected to be completed by early November.
Selinger said the province will then operate the Fairford outlet at full capacity throughout the winter.
“This is expected to bring both lakes down two or three feet by next spring.”
The channel will provide a long-term safeguard for flooding of Lake Manitoba and Lake St. Martin, he added.
“It’s like the (Red River) floodway. It’s there when you need it.”
The province has budgeted the potential of a 30 percent cost overrun into the project, which would push the price tag up to $130 million.
The Manitoba government expects the federal government to pick up 90 percent of the cost under the disaster financial assistance program.
