H2O: Ideas & Action for Canada's Water

Living Lakes Canada and the Lake Winnipeg Foundation are hosting a conference in May, 2012 to bring together lake stewardship groups across the country to help the world’s most eutrophic large lake, Lake Winnipeg. The title of having the most eutrophic large lake in the world is not something that we Manitobans are proud of but we are pleased that we have these organizations helping to bring attention and solutions to the problems of massive blue-green algae blooms that are plaguing our lake and many others.

For those of you not familiar with the term Eutrophication here is a definition:(Life Sciences & Allied Applications / Environmental Science) a process by which pollution from such sources as sewage effluent or leachate from fertilized fields causes a lake, pond, or fen to become overrich in organic and mineral nutrients, so that algae and cyanobacteria grow rapidly and deplete the oxygen supply often causing a die-off of other organisms.

The basic message is that its very threatening to the health of the entire aquatic eco-system as well as the humans and animals that use the lake if it becomes too eutrophic.

The Living Lakes Canada and Red Zone 111 Community Forum runs from May 22-24 and brings together a host of interesting speakers. Much of the focus will be on Climate Change and its impacts on the lake. It’s a great opportunity to learn more about what is happening to Lake Winnipeg and how we can reverse the unhealthy trend we’ve seen over the past decade. Check out the agenda and registration package for more details.