***Original published in Crossroads This Week, December 7, 2018***
Shoal Lake Environmental Assessment Open House Well Attended
The Shoal Lake Community Hall was packed to capacity last Friday night to listen to a presentation by Jay Toews of Toews Environmental Ltd Consulting and Aquatic Sciences regarding the progress of the environmental assessment of the town’s lake. Mr. Toews, the senior scientist of the team that has been studying the lake for the past year, gave a detailed accounting of their findings to date and recommendations for going forward.
For people unfamiliar with some of the main issues regarding Shoal Lake, they include discussions on optimal lake levels, algae and weed growth, phosphorus loading, fish populations, recreational boating access, and shoreline erosion.
As Mayor Merv Starzyk of the Rural Municipality of Yellowhead explained, the Council has been working on some of these latest lake issues for over a decade. The project has reached the point where Council is seeking a license from the Province in order to control the water level of the lake. In order for that license to be granted, Manitoba Sustainable Development required an environmental assessment to be completed.
‘Everyone wants a healthy lake and although Council has spent a significant amount of money on this study, we feel that it is tax payer funds well spent in order for us to move forward with proper management of the lake.’
The environment assessment started in earnest after last February’s Open House on the subject. As Mr. Toews said, ‘We are conducting a proper four season study of the lake. In addition, along with keeping local residents informed on the project, my team is seeking to gather input and as much local knowledge as possible.’
As for this interim report from Mr. Toews, it was very detailed and dovetailed with local observations of long time area residents. The assembled crowd received a crash course on topics such as hydrology, bathymetry, limnology, turbidity, and aeration. A layman unfamiliar with the science could have been overwhelmed but Mr. Toews managed to keep his report and recommendations relatable.
Specifically, Toews and his team came up with the following recommendations:
- In order to eliminate the ‘too low’ levels of the lake which creates poor summer boating, weed growth and fish winter kill, the lake should be kept above 1794.6 ft Above Sea Level (ASL).
- In order to eliminate the ‘too high’ levels of the lake which creates shoreline erosion issues, the lake should not be kept above 1796 ft ASL.
- The recommended ‘just right’ target level of the lake is 1795.3 ft ASL. This level would create the best balance between all the competing interests with regards to managing the lake’s health and recreational use. This level could be achieved by keeping just one stoplog in the water control structure at the south end of the lake.
- During the spring runoff or large weather events, it was recommended to add more culverts to the east-west running #93 Municipal road at the south end of the lake plus also a spillway for the beach road in that area. Water levels during those events literally cover the control structure, so the road acts as a dyke to hold the water at excessively high levels. At those high levels, a large wind event would cause significant shoreline erosion so it is imperative to lower the water as soon as possible.
- The lake’s water gauge needs to be lengthened as it goes underwater during very high levels and no data can be collected.
- The aerator at the north end of the lake is doing an adequate job of keeping the stocked fish alive during winter. Oxygen levels were measured last winter and found to drop off outside of one kilometer. Outside of that zone, fish like pickerel have a difficult time of surviving. But fish are smart and know how to keep from suffocating. So for the existing fish population, the one aerator is sufficient for now. It is critical for it to remain in operation otherwise algae and lake sediment would deplete the oxygen levels to a point where fish would not survive.
- There was some observed leakage through the lake’s dykes and control structure. It was recommended that engineering studies and possibly repairs should be made on the infrastructure.
Although the meeting was specifically geared towards the optimal level of the lake, Mr. Toews did touch on phosphorus issues when questioned. So far while studying the lake, it was no surprise that they observed high phosphorus levels. Surprisingly, the levels at the north end of the lake were ten times the expected amount. An obvious, likely culprit is the town’s lagoon which back in the 1980’s was found to contribute 10 to 12% of the lake’s phosphorus loading.
A RM Councilor mentioned that a solution will be put in place to mitigate that particular problem as some marsh land just to the east of the lagoon has been purchased and the plan will be to send lagoon water that direction instead of into the lake.
Meanwhile, Mr. Toews plans to continue studying how to identify and control the sources of phosphorus coming in, how to control the amounts that are already there, and how to determine and mitigate the levels of algae growth. So there is plenty of work yet to be completed in order to keep the lake healthy for all interested parties.
Mr. Toews summed up his talk with an anecdotal quote from a long time resident, ‘The Lake went up and the Lake went down with Nature, nobody tried to control it.’ Well decades ago, local government started to try and tame the Lake in order to mitigate flood events. The process will continue but with science and public discussion helping to direct the flow of progress in order to mitigate unintended consequences.
The full body of the environmental assessment report and its recommendations will soon be available to the public through the Yellowhead Municipal Office.
Blair is a personification of a ‘Jack of All Trades and Master of None’. He has held several careers and has all the T-shirts. Time to add the title Blogger to the list.