Inside The Waters Of Winnipeg, the Province With 100,000 Freshwater Lakes

Manitoba is considered one of the blessed parts of the world with its beautiful clear air and gigantic freshwater supplies. It’s a province that carries more than 900 trillion litres of freshwater. Manitoba has “Three of Canada’s 14 largest lakes are in Manitoba — Lake Winnipeg, Lake Manitoba and Lake Winnipegosis.” Freshwater is an essential topic to all human beings, and as a province with many freshwater resources, the province puts efforts into improving the quality of its freshwater.

With these vast amounts of freshwater and lakes, there could be a lot of problems that might fall upon this blessing. “In 2008, dead carp were observed in Lake Manitoba and Lake St.Martin. Samples from Lake Manitoba tested positive for koi herpesvirus. This was the first confirmed case in wild carp in Manitoba.” reported by the Government of Manitoba. This virus has caused many problems in Lake Manitoba, and the Manitoba government concluded this problem with the plan of monitoring Lake Manitoba.

Environmentalists are worried about Lake Manitoba, considering it is the eleventh largest freshwater lake in the world and a critical source of water for hydroelectric power. It’s unlike any other freshwater lake in Manitoba. Problems didn’t stop there for Lake Manitoba; at the end of July 2020, thousands of fish and carb were found dead on the shores of Lake Winnipeg; the government announced that “Results from the carp tissue tests have come back negative for both koi herpesvirus and spring viraemia or carp virus. Based on the evidence collected to date, Manitoba Agriculture and Resource Development (ARD) is unable to determine what caused this die-off; at this time, there will be no further investigation.”

These events were some of the things that hit Lake Manitoba and that have caused a lot of stress in the lake’s ecosystem. Many other lakes in Manitoba face problems like invasive species, Green Algae, and many more. Still, the Government of Manitoba supports many organizations responsible for protecting and researching Freshwater lakes to help keep the health of all the lakes in Manitoba.

Manitobans can get involved and help save the freshwater lakes in the province by donating to all of the organizations responsible for the maintenance of the freshwater lakes. They can also help keep all lakes clean from garbage and other harmful waste.

Sources:

• https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/11-402-x/2010000/chap/geo/tbl/tbl07-eng.htm
• https://www.manitoba.ca/sd/water/pubs/water/clean_water_guide.pdf
• https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/lake-winnipeg-carp-kill-unexplained-1.5664278
• https://www.gov.mb.ca/nrnd/fish-wildlife/pubs/fish_wildlife/fish/carp_factsheet.pdf
• https://www.gov.mb.ca/health/publichealth/environmentalhealth/protection/pool.html

– Halla Alhamed, U Multicultural

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of U Multicultural.

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