H2O: Ideas & Action for Canada's Water

I haven’t been posting on this site for quite awhile because I’ve been focusing my energy on building awareness of the factory style hog industry in Manitoba and the multiple harms it contributes to. From the chronic suffering of the animals living in close confinement, to the misery of nearby home owners due to noxious odours, and finally the pollution of our lakes from too much hog manure applied to the land, this industry really needs to change! If you’re interested in what changes are being recommended check out Hog Watch Manitoba, Our Vision.
In the meantime, Lake Winnipeg and other Manitoba lakes continue to be plagued with sometimes toxic blue-green algae blooms. Here are some images of blue-green algae on Lake Winnipeg in the past few weeks. As well, here is a map, prepared by Environment Canada staff, of the entire lake based on satellite images, and it is colour scaled to show the concentration of chlorophyll a in the water. Almost the entire south basin of Lake Winnipeg is a deep red, almost brown, which indicates a relatively high concentration of chlorophyll a. Chlorophyll a is a way of measuring how much algae is present. It is likely that last year’s flood combined with low water levels this year have resulted in significant algae blooms.
The most important message I want to convey is that we can change this. There are ways that we can decrease the phosphorus and nitrogen that is getting into the lake and feeding the algae. Better treatment of human sewage before it is released and substantial changes to the hog industry will result in decreased P and N polluting our waters!