Water Canada has selected the Manitoba Forage and Grassland Association (MFGA) as the winner of its Early Adopter/Innovation Partnership Award for its Aquanty hydrological modelling project, MFGA’s executive director Duncan Morrison said.

The MFGA was named as one of three finalists in July.

“They announced us as finalists, and then the waiting began,” Morrison said. “It’s a pretty significant win for us.”

WHY IT MATTERS: It’s not often a farm-facing organization, in this case the Manitoba Forage and Grassland Association, receives this sort of national-level recognition for work in the water management sector.

Water Canada chose award recipients based on their collaborations with municipalities, corporations or institutions and technology companies that demonstrate shared dedication to progressing Canada’s water sector. Aquanty, the MFGA’s partner in the project, submitted the nomination.

The winning partnership was revealed during the Water Canada Awards ceremony Oct. 16 in Toronto.

“We’re extremely proud of Aquanty, and of being a little group that took on a really big task,” Morrison said.

He noted MFGA’s leadership was certain from the start the organization was up to the challenge.

“We had the support of our board, and we went and did it,” Morrison said.

Hydrological modelling project updated

The organization has continued to advance the technology since its initial adoption, and winning the award is proof MFGA is on the right path, Morrison said. Meanwhile, Aquanty is continuing to update its models and scenarios.

“We continue to work with watershed districts and First Nations and agriculture groups to get us the best profile we possibly can with this thing,” Morrison said.

The Aquanty project has gone through several phases, from an initial model tapped for local water management planning to a more recent flood forecasting tool. The project assists farmers and communities throughout the Assiniboine River Basin in preparing for extreme weather patterns. The model uses a technology called HydroGeoSphere to simulate the water cycle and anticipate how water would behave in a virtual replica of the basin, given changing factors such as weather data.

Building on success

MFGA’s innovation continues to attract recognition and investment. The organization recently received support through the federal Climate Action Fund for a new project which will aim to evaluate climate change effects on Manitoba’s forage and grassland landscapes.

Announced by Environment and Climate Change Minister Mike Moyes on Earth Day 2025, the project received $130,000 in funding as part of a $2-million provincial investment in climate initiatives. Through this one-year project, MFGA and Aquanty will again engage their hydrological model in the Pembina Valley and Assiniboine West Watershed Districts to explore how a shifting climate could affect Manitoba’s forage and grasslands. Using future climate scenarios for 2050 and 2100, they will develop detailed risk maps and share them with farmers, watershed groups and policymakers to help strengthen long-term resiliency.

Bringing the farm perspective

A farm organization being recognized in the water sector is significant, Morrison believes.

“Rarely is a farm group nominated around water, and that is something that we did,” he said. “We were able to get into downtown Toronto to speak to Canada’s water movers.”

The MFGA was able to share the work their farmers are doing and the perspective that water is essentially important to agriculture.

“We made sure that we gave them confidence that farmers are doing great work. And it’s groups like MFGA and some of our partners that continue to promote this great work,” Morrison said.

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The projects, located near the Red River on the U.S. side, has drawn the scrutiny of the International Joint Commission (IJC) following pressure from Manitoba’s environment minister, the province announced on Oct. 9.

The operations in question are Abercrombie Dairy, which will be a 12,500-head milking operation near Wahpeton, south of Fargo, and Herberg Dairy, a 25,000-head operation slated near Hillsboro, north of Fargo. The projects got permits to start construction in January 2025. Both are owned by Riverview LLP, a Minnesota-based dairy agribusiness.

Those dairy mega-projects could add more nutrients to an already struggling Lake Winnipeg downstream, according to Mike Moyes, Manitoba’s environment and climate change minister.

“We’re happy that the IJC was referred and that they’re looking at it (and) going through that process,” Moyes said. “Obviously, we want to move as quickly as possible. This is a major operation, and we want to make sure that all the different dairies, including those in North Dakota, are taking this seriously and doing everything they can to mitigate any nutrients that potentially could go into the waterways.”

WHY IT MATTERS: Manitoba is pushing for an international review of two massive North Dakota dairy operations that it worries could dump well over targeted phosphorus levels into Lake Winnipeg.

According to the province, the International Joint Commission has told its offshoot, the International Red River Watershed Board (IRRWB), to look at permits and information related to the dairy projects. The board will assess whether the projects properly considered impacts on water quality and aquatic ecosystems at the international boundary, particularly regarding nutrient targets for the Red River.

The Red River contributes only about 15 per cent of total water flow into Lake Winnipeg. A late 2024 provincial report on nutrient targets, however, reported that it carries the largest load of nutrients into the lake out of all the water body’s major tributaries.

“The health of Manitoba’s lakes and rivers is a top priority for our government, and we want to be sure that developments upstream don’t negatively affect Lake Winnipeg and the Red River,” Moyes said. “We are working with partners upstream and taking action at home to ensure developments address the risk of sending even more algae-causing nutrients into Lake Winnipeg. We must protect Lake Winnipeg for generations to come.”

Water nutrient levels have been a loaded issue in Manitoba. Animal agriculture, the pork industry in particular, has taken significant public heat over the issue. The sector, in turn, has repeatedly pointed to improvements in their sector, such as better manure management. Fertilizer runoff in the grain sector has been another investigated source.

Local agriculture, meanwhile, strongly contests that blame, with arguments pointing fingers at the City of Winnipeg and incidences of sewage flowing into the river following major rain events, or to nutrient sources coming in from further south.

Operations would quadruple North Dakota herd

The two North Dakota facilities will add 37,500 milking cows to the state, more than quadrupling the current herd of about 8,900 cows and nearly matching Manitoba’s entire provincial herd of roughly 45,000 cows across 240 farms, the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA) said in a post May 25.

The operations are located within 1.5 miles of the Red River or its tributaries. The Manitoba Eco-Network said on its website that waste from the operations will be stored in lagoons covering an area equivalent to 52 Canadian football fields, with no municipal wastewater treatment. The manure slurry will be spread on agricultural fields as fertilizer.

“Our concern about this operation is just the sheer amount of dairy cows this close to the watershed,” Moyes said. “We’re talking about tens of thousands of dairy cows about a mile away.”

The CCPA has echoed Manitoba’s concerns that excess manure application could lead to accumulation of phosphorus and nitrogen in rivers and lakes, which feed blue-green algae blooms in Lake Winnipeg. They also said that pollution from the operations could contain antibiotics, hormones, bacteria and heavy metals.

Moyes was clear that the government’s concerns are not anti-agriculture.

“We recognize the importance that agriculture plays in in our economy, in our world and especially in water management,” he said. “We stand with farmers. We stand with all the producers, but it needs to be done in the right way.”

The Manitoba Eco-Network, along with the Save Lake Winnipeg Project and Animal Justice, called on both federal and provincial governments to refer the issue to the IJC.

Moyes is also encouraging concerned citizens to get involved.

“We’re trying to really raise that alarm bell that this is a concern for our water, that mitigation measures have to be taken for these mega dairy farms, and so any Manitoban out there, if they’re concerned, reach out to your to your local MLA and try to let them know how important this is.”

Phosphorus levels over target

In late 2022, the governments of Canada and the U.S. approved a nutrient loading goal for the Red River of 1,400 tons of phosphorus and 9,525 tons of nitrogen per year, based on recommendations made by the IJC.

That phosphorus target is a reduction of about 45 per cent from current levels, according to the Manitoba Eco-Network. The CCPA said that Manitoba’s 2024 nutrient report shows an average of 2,500 tonnes of phosphorus per year flowing from the U.S. through the Red River through 2023.

Manitoba, meanwhile, set its own nutrient reduction targets for Lake Winnipeg late last year, broken down by tributary. The goal for the Red River, in that plan, was a loading target of 2,800 tonnes per year of phosphorus and 19,050 tonnes of nitrogen, as measured at Selkirk.

Nutrients from multiple sources

Previous studies have suggested that about half the nutrients in Lake Winnipeg come from within Manitoba, with the rest flowing in from upstream areas such as Ontario, Saskatchewan, Alberta, North Dakota, Minnesota, and small areas of South Dakota and Montana. The Winnipeg, Saskatchewan and Dauphin rivers also contribute significant amounts of nutrients and water flow to the lake, the Manitoba government’s December 2024 report said.

The province is taking a holistic approach to water management, bringing on a new advisory board for Lake Winnipeg and working with other stakeholders like nearby municipalities and the City of Winnipeg, Moyes said.

“We’re trying to protect more nature and wetlands and peat…and we want to work with with agriculture. We want to work with with everyday farmers on their operations to make sure they’re that they’re as efficient as possible.”

Moyes wrote to the IRRWB in June, then followed up with letters to North Dakota Governor Kelly Armstrong and Canada’s Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand. He asked them to support the IJC’s work and act on any recommendations that come out of the review.

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On April 17, the province announced an increase of $265,000 to core funding for Manitoba’s Watershed Districts Program and said it will expand three watershed districts in eastern and southern Manitoba municipalities.

Why it matters: Funding programs like the On-Farm Climate Action Fund and GROW are offered exclusively through watershed districts.

Across the province, there are 14 watershed districts established under the authority of the Watershed Districts Act that are charged with developing and implementing programs to improve watershed health.

The Northeast Red Watershed District is expanding to include the RM of St. Clements, RM of Lac du Bonnet and RM of Reynolds. The district is also expanding into areas it did not previously cover in the RMs of Brokenhead, Ste. Anne, Tache and Springfield.

The RM of Roland will be split between the Pembina Valley Watershed District and the Redboine Watershed District. The latter district will also expand to include the RM of Macdonald.

“We are thrilled to announce expansion of the Northeast Red, Pembina and Redboine watershed districts to include several new municipalities and to expand the included area in several existing municipalities,” said Manitoba Environment and Climate Minister Kevin Klein.

“Our government has increased core funding for the watershed districts program every year for the last four years, allowing more municipalities to join the program and protect, restore and manage our most valuable resource: water.”

The expansion will also help the Manitoba Association of Watersheds (MAW) achieve its coverage goals, that organization has said.

“Every year that there’s expansion, we get closer to that goal of seeing all of agri-Manitoba covered by watershed district programming,” said MAW executive director Lynda Nicol.

The federal government’s climate action plan rollout in Manitoba has been criticized for having holes in coverage. Certain farmers who want to use the plan’s nitrogen reduction incentives, for example, can’t because not all municipalities have signed onto the Watershed Districts Program.

Those holes exist because the watershed program is voluntary by design.

“When we went from conservation districts to watershed districts, we, along with the government, decided that we wanted to make this program good enough so that municipalities wanted to be part of it,” said MAW board chair Garry Wasylowski.

The recent announcement is expected to help address the problem.

While some agricultural municipalities remain outside a watershed district, Nicol says the program is catching on, particularly in areas where important funding is at stake.

“The programs available through watershed districts speaks to the value of partnering within the program to ensure that there’s access for all agricultural producers to participate in these funding programs,” she said.

Nicol said she would like to one day see the program cover the entire province.

“We want to have all those local councils as well as First Nations partners engaged and partnered within, so that we can reap the benefits of integrated watershed management planning on a grand scale.”

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Monitoring and evaluation of conservation projects like those under the GROW Trust have “never been that developed,” Ellis said.

The first three projects under the GROW (Growing Outcomes in Watersheds) Trust, a $52-million program to support the protection of wetlands, were announced on October 22. Two of these projects involved expanding ALUS programs — programs that pay farmers to conserve land for its ecological benefits.

The province is working with Manitoba Habitat Heritage Corporation to oversee the fund. MHHC announced the first call for letters of intent for project proposals on January 10.

Those who get funds will be required to report on the outputs the money pays for, a provincial spokesperson said in an emailed statement to the Manitoba Co-operator.

“These outputs will be summarized and converted into GROW Outcomes using calculations based on standardized technical information developed from peer-reviewed and technically supported research,” the spokesperson said.

The province will work with MHHC and the International Institute for Sustainable Development to use those outputs to quantify outcomes — the actual effect on the environment.

Tim Sopuck, CEO of Manitoba Habitat Heritage Corporation, indicated that the metrics they’ll use are still under development.

“It’s the so what? What did you do for the environment?” said Sopuck. “We take that question very seriously.”

Sopuck told the Co-operator that quantifying outputs — acres added to the program, small dams built, riparian areas fenced — is fairly simple. Adding up outcomes — nutrients kept from running into watersheds, water quality increased, carbon sequestered — is a work in progress.

“Some of the things are really hard to measure,” he said.

Every project is slightly different, so it takes a lot of scientific work over many studies to create good models they can use to predict outcomes of any given output.

That science isn’t as far along as he’d like, Sopuck said, adding this can be frustrating.

Ellis said that while studies have measured results of various ALUS projects, they usually centre around one question, like insects or a species at risk.

It’s hard, therefore, to use them to scale up to make assumptions on projects across Canada.

Sopuck said they simply have to rely on the best science they have to determine what they can reasonably expect from a project. For instance, they have studies on the benefits of restoring a wetland from which they can reasonably infer the results of restoring other wetlands.

Both Ellis and Sopuck said they’re confident their programs are producing ecological benefits, regardless of if they can translate those benefits into numbers in a report.

GROW open for proposals

The first call for project proposals under Manitoba’s Growing Outcomes in Watersheds (GROW) program has opened.

The program is funded by two trusts established by the provincial government, the $102-million Conservation Trust, and the $52.0-million GROW Trust that was announced in June 2019. GROW Trust funds will compensate farmers when agricultural lands are committed to conservation purposes.

“This is the beginning of a long-lasting partnership between the province, the Manitoba Habitat Heritage Corporation and, most importantly, Manitoba farmers and other landowners,” said Agriculture and Resource Development Minister Blaine Pedersen.

GROW will be delivered by Manitoba’s Watershed Districts and will provide incentives for landowners to adopt practices that reduce flooding, improve water quality and make the agricultural landscape more resilient to the impacts of climate change.

Incentives will support activities such as wetland conservation and restoration, small water retention structures, riparian area enhancement, conservation buffer strips and perennial cover plantings and other conservation projects that are watershed management plan priorities.

“The goal is to improve watershed resilience to the impacts of a changing climate,” said Pedersen. “These trusts implement our government’s commitments in our Made-in-Manitoba Climate and Green Plan while enhancing sustainable production for Manitoba farmers.”

“The two trusts and the overall GROW framework bring a new dimension to conservation programs in rural Manitoba,” said Tim Sopuck, chief executive officer of the Manitoba Habitat Heritage Corporation. “The new program and the funding approach will deliver important environmental results to Manitobans for generations to come.”

Groups that are eligible to deliver GROW may apply for up to $500,000 in funding. Other groups may consider applying to the Conservation Trust under criteria established in the Watersheds category, where the maximum funding available is $250,000. More information on the proposal process is available on the MHHC website at www.mhhc.mb.ca.

Letters of intent must be submitted by Feb. 14, 2020, to be considered in the first round of proposals.

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Numerous speakers also cancelled, but that resulted in some delegates successfully coaxed into taking their place, giving the event a new local tone.

MCDA chair Arnold Coutts said the end result is something organizers will be thinking over when planning future events. People said they really appreciated hearing about these local projects and perspectives, he said.

“People like an inspirational speaker but we’ve got local people who are doing things. The problem is to get them to come out and speak.”

Funding needs

MCDA delegates gave the nod last week to a five-year work plan laying out strategic directions for the organization. One of its main goals is to get districts working more effectively together, Coutts said.

“The overall vision is for partners to work together effectively,” he said. “We’re trying to become one big team instead of a whole bunch of individual ones. We’re trying to be unified.”

In a closed session there was also talk about the financial situation of CDs. They need about a 12 per cent annual increase — or another $800,000 — just to keep up with inflationary costs, Coutts said, adding a funding increase would be the first in two decades.

“The budget for (all) conservation districts is just over $5 million right now and that amount works out to the same dollars we’ve been working with since 1997,” he said.

There have been some slight funding increases but these haven’t kept up with rising costs such as those associated with the use of earth moving equipment.

“The difference is in 1997 you could work with a machine for about half the price of what it is now,” Coutts said.

MCDA knows its ask for more money comes at a time the province is insisting all be extra careful about spending and account for every penny, Coutts added. The MCDA can deliver on that, he said. It knows exactly where it will go because CD managers have worked very hard to earmark what projects it will be spent on.

“They’re (the province) saying we’ve got to be more accountable for every cent,” he said.

“We’re asking for stability… an increase that at least covers the inflation rate.”

In a later interview, Coutts said that many conservation districts look forward to the implementation of Alternative Land Use Services (ALUS) programming in Manitoba. A provincial spokesperson said during the MCDA that public and stakeholder consultations on ALUS, as well as on watershed planning and related surface water management initiatives, are expected to begin early in 2017.

Agenda changes

Delegates at the two-day meeting learned the details of many CD projects in various stages, from water-retention ponds recently constructed on farmland near Dauphin (please see related story: ‘Farm-based dry dams help reduce downstream flooding’ on page 1) to initiatives such as the Boyne River and the Swan Lake Group Plans now organized between clusters of local landowners. Staff with Sustainable Development shared information on the formation of Integrated Watershed Management Plans.

During question and answer periods there was some discussion about how to go about involving more First Nations communities in conservation districts. The management team for the Carrot-Saskatchewan River IWMP has a project underway to both summarize and highlight the plan and translate it into Cree.

Wendy Bulloch, co-ordinator of the provincial Open Farm Day which attracts as many as 6,500 visitors to farms across the province, was one guest speaker able to make a scheduled appearance.

Bulloch challenged conservation districts to step up their visibility.

“The work you do is still one of the best-kept secrets in this province,” she said. “The CD story is a fantastic one that is not being shared. Joe Blow and Jane Blow have no concept of it. I wonder even if some of our small communities really understand what you do.”

Bulloch is asking CDs to find a local farmer and participate together in Open Farm Day in 2017 to tell visitors to that farm what local CDs are doing.

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An integrated watershed management plan (IWMP) is developed co-operatively by stakeholders (watershed residents, interest groups) and all levels of government to create a long-term plan to manage land, water and related resources on a watershed basis, a release from the Pembina Valley Conservation District says.

The two-year process involves meetings with the public throughout the region to identify water management issues and prioritize response.

“Previous public consultations and natural resource planning documents have shown us that stakeholders are concerned about drinking water quality, surface water quality, flooding and erosion. Water is a critical natural resource important for human existence and part of a healthy ecosystem and can be considered a blessing and a curse,” said Cliff Greenfield, manager at Pembina Valley Conservation District.

This watershed includes a group of tributaries that flow into the Red River, the Boyne River, Stephenfield Lake, Tobacco Creek, Shannon Creek, Norquay-Boyne Channel and the Morris River. Municipalities located in the planning area include Lorne, Victoria, Dufferin, Grey, Norfolk Treherne, Thompson, Pembina, Stanley, Roland, Morris, Macdonald, Ritchot, Town of Carman, Town of Morris and Swan Lake First Nation. The planning process is a partnership between the La Salle Redboine Conservation District, the Pembina Valley Conservation District and the Province of Manitoba.

“With this planning effort, we hope to actively engage people in the watershed to develop a 10-year plan to make it a better and healthier place to live, work and play,” said Justin Reid, manager at La Salle Redboine CD.

Climate change, drought management adaptation, invasive species and biodiversity are also addressed in the planning process.

There are 25 integrated watershed management plans in the province under the leadership of 18 conservation districts. Twenty plans have been completed and five are at various stages of development.

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Ultimately our traditional flooding hot spot, the Red River Valley was mostly spared with a combination of manageable flows and decades of preparation. However, the Assiniboine River experience was an entirely different matter. Unprecedented flooding required desperate and heroic measures to mitigate disaster: super-size sandbags stacked three high to protect Brandon, the deliberate breach of the Hoop and Holler Dike, and the emergency construction of the Lake St. Martin channel.

Manitobans literally put in and pulled out all the stops we could to prevent widespread catastrophe.

What a difference a year makes. We have flipped from historic flooding to severe drought conditions. Indeed every millilitre of water we diked, diverted and channelled downstream we may want back as we now confront a serious drought across the Prairies. As well, it sure would be great to have access to the agricultural nutrients carried away by flood waters, as fertilizer prices continue to climb.

Federal report

In 2007 a federal government report warned of a scenario — more flooding, more droughts and more overall variability — very similar to our 2011-12 Manitoba experience.

Fulfilling a campaign promise, the provincial government has now embarked on a comprehensive surface water management strategy. And not a moment too soon, as we cannot bear the costs of repeat flood episodes like 2011, or the costs of more frequent drought episodes, which can be even more economically debilitating.

A comprehensive surface water management strategy is a core requirement for 21st century sustainable development in Manitoba. A traditional water strategy that is singularly focused on flood protection — channelling water downstream to Lake Winnipeg — misses the major co-benefits of water conservation, nutrient management and rural development.

University of Manitoba researcher Greg McCullough and colleagues have clearly set out the interconnection of issues in last month’s issue of the prestigious Journal of Great Lakes Research. Simply put, flood events are the dominant driver of Lake Winnipeg nutrient loading. This linkage with flooding reveals at least three opportunities for upstream flood protection, water conservation and nutrient recycling.

IISD believes that the provincial surface water management strategy should be approached not as an expensive environmental mitigation problem, but as a sustainable development imperative. It offers a major innovation opportunity and an investment strategy that yields major public and private benefits.

Novel approach

Indeed, through the International Institute for Sustainable Development’s work on the Lake Winnipeg Bioeconomy Project, IISD has shown that novel watershed management can generate flood and drought protection, higher habitat values, large nutrient load reductions and new agricultural value chains worth hundreds of millions, if not tens of billions of dollars of annual revenue, depending on the level of biotechnology investments. 

All of the key principles are on display. IISD’s Netley-Libau Marsh nutrient-bioenergy project demonstrates how biomass harvested for energy can recycle nutrients and improve habitat. Another example is the Tobacco Creek Model Watershed near Miami, Manitoba, where the economic and environmental benefits of distributed water storage have been on display for decades. The North Ottawa Creek project in west-central Minnesota is yet another example where the State of Minnesota has shown the seamless integration of flood storage with enhanced agriculture productivity.

A surface water management strategy for Manitoba infused with bioeconomy principles — recycling water, nutrients and biomass and reaping the major benefits thereof — gives focus, purpose, urgency and the investment case for the key recommendations of the Consultation on Sustainable Development Implementation multi-stakeholder report accepted by the provincial government in 2000.

The COSDI report recommends collaborative, large area planning for sustainable development, preferably on watershed boundaries.

If there was ever ambiguity as to why we need a sustainable development solution, we now have an answer.

Our water management challenges pose profound risks to this and future generations of Manitobans. A creative integrated and modern approach not only deals with the risks but creates the foundation for a century of prosperity for this province. IISD is confident that, given the facts, Manitobans will opt for 21st century wisdom.

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Thirty years ago, it was considered a real accomplishment when a group of neighbouring municipalities joined together to form a conservation district. After all, they were committing to co-operate on some of the most contentious issues facing municipal leaders, drainage and water management.

Now, a growing number of those conservation districts are merging under the broader umbrella of an integrated water management plan. Manitoba has 10 of these integrated plans in place, and another 13 in the works.

Balancing the interests of so many jurisdictions and coming up with a joint vision is no small feat, as evidenced by the three years it took to complete the Pembina River process. Its 10-year plan incorporates the priorities of the local conservation districts and RMs, but also provincial and federal governments, private landowners and non-profit groups.

They’ve identified their major goals as improving public and private drinking water quality, reducing algal blooms on major lakes, preventing water erosion along watercourses, and ensuring responsible surface water management that considers aquatic ecosystems.

Finding common ground on water management issues has never been more necessary, but it has also never been more difficult.

That old adage “whiskey is for drinking, water is for fighting over,” comes to mind as we survey the scene right now in Manitoba.

The events of this past spring underscore the reality that “flood protection” would be more aptly described as “flood redirection.” We can’t help but note the irony of communities that were built on a flood plain being protected at the expense of residents in and around Lake Manitoba.

Or that while governments choke on the half a billion dollars spent fighting spring floods, much of the province is now choking on the dust of drought-like conditions.

The political expediency of building more ditches and deeper diversions is understandable, as is the need for farmers to get onto their land as early as possible in the spring. But we might someday regret our haste to turn freshwater into saltwater.

It seems logical that the most prudent flood mitigation strategy would be to reduce the volumes of water trying to use the system at the same time.

Accomplishing that however, will require co-operation inter-provincially as well as internationally, given the nature of the Assiniboine and Red River watersheds – a prospect that seems beyond our political capacity.

A new study released by the International Institute for Sustainable Development suggests Manitoba is not alone in its predicament.

“Almost 50 per cent of the Earth’s land surface lies within such transboundary watersheds, which provide over 60 per cent of global freshwater flow,” the report Ecosystem Approaches in Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) says.

“These watersheds also represent large tracts of land with high biodiversity and forest cover. It has been estimated, however, that a third of the world’s watersheds have lost more than 75 per cent of their original forest cover and that 17 river basins have lost more than 95 per cent (Revenga, et al. 1998).

“Competition with activities that lead to deforestation, mostly due to a need for increased food production, makes it imperative to sustainably manage such watersheds and the ecosystem services (ES) from them (including food and water).”

Researchers reviewed the management of seven major transboundary river basins, including the Red, Mekong, Okavango, Congo, Danube, Jordan, and La Plata rivers – representing North America, Asia-Pacific, Africa, Europe, West Asia, and Latin America regions of the world.

It found that while transnational water agreements exist, they deal with traditional resource issues such as water quantity, navigation and hydropower.

The role of these watersheds in providing environmental services, such as water quality, erosion control and flood water storage, remained under the control of local jurisdictions.

“In all cases a stronger focus on ecosystem services would produce new benefit opportunities, such as biodiversity benefits and increased resilience to extreme climate events such as floods and droughts, which would complement more traditional benefits such as hydropower and navigation,” the report concludes.

“In the case of the Red River Basin, there are significant opportunities for transboundary collaboration and international co-operation to address flooding and water quality as integrated issues,” said Hank Venema, director of IISD’s water innovation centre.

Integrated watershed management at the local and regional levels is clearly a step in the right direction. laura@fbcpublishing.com

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“If you drain, you might be shooting yourself in the foot.”

– HANK VENEMA, IISD

Manitoba needs a new water policy, with watershed management as the cornerstone, to prepare for the coming impact of a changing global climate, a newly released report says.

The strategy should emphasize conserving water on the land instead of draining it away, says the report by the Winnipegbased International Institute for Sustainable Development.

Throughout much of Manitoba’s recent history, drainage often was the watchword for rural development. In fact, the 76-page report describes 1870 to 1959 as The Drainage Era, when settlement and land clearing for agriculture made drainage necessary.

FORMER SWAMP

People forget some of the Red River Valley, today the richest farming region in Manitoba, was once a swamp.

But the creation between 1959 and 1990 of conservation districts brought about a watershed-based approach to water management. The report, released Jan. 13, calls

it The First Watershed Era.

Today, Manitoba is in a Second Watershed Era amid concerns about the health of Lake Winnipeg.

The report calls for an Adaptation Era and an integrated approach to land and water issues, based on watersheds.

This approach would kill two birds with one stone. It would mitigate the effects of climate change (droughts and floods) while simultaneously reducing the nutrient load in Lake Winnipeg, said Hank Venema, the report’s lead author.

“By doing watershed-based management, we create a synergy between climate change adaptation and nutrient management,” said Venema, reached by phone in Israel.

He recognized drainage was needed in the early days of settlement to bring agricultural land into production.

But that approach to water management may have to change. Climate change, which Venema called a fait accompli, will result in erratic water supplies, longer growing seasons and the need to stretch out water resources, he said.

“If you drain, you might be shooting yourself in the foot because you’ll need that water later in the year.”

TEMPLATE

Conservation districts could be the template for integrated watershed management, said Veneman.

Currently, there are 18 conservation districts including over 130 municipalities covering nearly all of agro-Manitoba. They operate under the Manitoba Conservation District program, a provincial-municipal partnership for conserving and managing water and soil resources.

Government will have to invest in policies and programs to prepare for the variability that climate change will bring, said Veneman.

Municipalities also have a role to play, he added, citing the recent Alternate Land Use Services (ALUS) pilot project in the western Manitoba municipality of Blanshard.

Ian Wishart, Keystone Agricultural Producers president, said if authorities want better water management, they’ll have to pay farmers for it.

“We’ve had a lot of regulation but we’ve never had the incentive programs to go with it,” said Wishart.

“If you want farmers to maintain and enhance wetlands… we have to have some incentives to do it.” ron@fbcpublishing.com

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These plans are considered vital to the province-wide push to implement watershed plans.

Four conservation districts have received additional funding to develop their Integrated Watershed Management Plans.

These plans are considered vital to the province-wide push to implement watershed plans.

Cheques of $25,000 were issued to four C. D. managers on the opening day of the recent Manitoba Conservation Districts Association convention.

Alonsa C. D. manager Harry Harris said the funding comes on top of their usual budget for the year and is earmarked specifically for IWMP development. Harris said there is usually a two-year time limit, but is confident he can speed up the process as the C. D. already has a Surface Water Management Plan almost completed.

Steve Carlyle, manager of the East Interlake C. D. said the funds will assist the EICD in completing an IWMP in the Willow Creek Watershed. The watershed includes the town of Gimli. “This will be the third IWMP the EICD will be involved in,” said Carlyle.

His district is currently in the final draft stage of an IWMP for the Icelandic-Washow Bay Creek watershed which should be finished in January. They are also in the plan formulation stage for the Netley-Grassmere IWMP, which should be completed shortly after the start of the Willow Creek Watershed IWMP.

“Our goal is to have IWMPs take approximately one year to complete. At this rate we will have all four of our sub-watershed that comprise the EICD with a completed IWMP by spring 2011,” he said.

After spending two years on an amalgamation, as well as partnering with other districts to work on a watershed management plan for the Pembina River, the new Assiniboine Hills conservation district received funding to work on the central Assiniboine and lower Souris River watersheds.

Manager Barb Kingdon said the experience will allow for them to move more efficiently through the process.

She said public meetings are well attended if the timing is right. She is hoping time will be on their side again.

Her district has a challenge as it is still not solely based on watersheds, so partnerships are essential. Down the line, there is a possibility that the boundaries might be adjusted, but for now, the focus is on completion of the IWMP.

Brent Erlendsen, manager of Swan Lake Watershed conservation district said his C. D. will be completing a plan for the Manitoba portion of the Swan Lake basin. He expects to have a very close working relationship with the stakeholders and various representatives on the Saskatchewan portion. He said the two provinces have a consensus to work closely to benefit the entire watershed.

A project management team will be put together and then work will begin on the “characterization” of the watershed. Considerable data exists and once all is compiled, any voids need to be addressed and that information gathered.

As one of the newest C. D. s, Erlendsen said they had limited resources, but are very pleased with the recent funds which will allow them to continue the project.

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