Dire prediction for Lake (Winnipeg)
Posted: Wed Oct 23, 2024 10:54 amDire prediction for lake
[ https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/opini ... the-editor ]
SUBSCRIPTION REQUIRED TO READ LETTERS . . . .
- Letters to the Editor - John Fefchak, Verdan, MB - Oct. 23, 2024
Re: National agency, based in Winnipeg, begins work to protect waterways (Oct. 16)
Lately, there has been a lot of media attention focused on the condition of Lake Winnipeg and its algae bloom problems.
With the exception of singling out and reprimanding the City of Winnipeg for its raw sewage contributions, I fail to see any successful outcome from committing money to “removing the algae blooms.”
There is a huge amount of phosphorus stored in farmland and being generated in southeastern Manitoba. That fact cannot be ignored. The potential for blooms comes from nutrient pollution created from an overabundance of nitrogen and phosphorus. When nutrient concentrations increase in a body of water like Lake Winnipeg, and with the right combinations of temperature, sunlight and low water flow, algal blooms are triggered and flourish.
Government(s) would be better to commit money to treat the source of the nutrient problem and change the present regulations to better control the application of phosphorus, rather than just treat algae bloom symptoms. However, because of governments’ commitment to support economic priorities and expansion of industrial agriculture, especially hog operations, they only focus on treating the symptoms and ignore the actual causes.
With such an approach, Lake Winnipeg doesn’t have a chance of survival.
It’s time for serious political action on phosphorus. You can’t keep feeding the algae blooms and expect a recovery for Lake Winnipeg. Concrete action would be to cap the amount of phosphorus that can be applied to farmland; where the current rules begin to regulate it, at 60 ppm. (Five times more than needed, for the average cereal crop grown in Manitoba.)
That, dear readers, is a licence to pollute.
John Fefchak,
Virden
[ https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/opini ... the-editor ]
SUBSCRIPTION REQUIRED TO READ LETTERS . . . .
- Letters to the Editor - John Fefchak, Verdan, MB - Oct. 23, 2024
Re: National agency, based in Winnipeg, begins work to protect waterways (Oct. 16)
Lately, there has been a lot of media attention focused on the condition of Lake Winnipeg and its algae bloom problems.
With the exception of singling out and reprimanding the City of Winnipeg for its raw sewage contributions, I fail to see any successful outcome from committing money to “removing the algae blooms.”
There is a huge amount of phosphorus stored in farmland and being generated in southeastern Manitoba. That fact cannot be ignored. The potential for blooms comes from nutrient pollution created from an overabundance of nitrogen and phosphorus. When nutrient concentrations increase in a body of water like Lake Winnipeg, and with the right combinations of temperature, sunlight and low water flow, algal blooms are triggered and flourish.
Government(s) would be better to commit money to treat the source of the nutrient problem and change the present regulations to better control the application of phosphorus, rather than just treat algae bloom symptoms. However, because of governments’ commitment to support economic priorities and expansion of industrial agriculture, especially hog operations, they only focus on treating the symptoms and ignore the actual causes.
With such an approach, Lake Winnipeg doesn’t have a chance of survival.
It’s time for serious political action on phosphorus. You can’t keep feeding the algae blooms and expect a recovery for Lake Winnipeg. Concrete action would be to cap the amount of phosphorus that can be applied to farmland; where the current rules begin to regulate it, at 60 ppm. (Five times more than needed, for the average cereal crop grown in Manitoba.)
That, dear readers, is a licence to pollute.
John Fefchak,
Virden