Goal 5: Avoid Interjurisdictional Conflicts

The PPWB's Strategic Plan Goal 5 is to avoid conflicts and disagreements over interjurisdictional issues. Under this Goal, the Prairie Provinces Water Board (PPWB) has discussed the Lake Winnipeg activities and programs over the past few years. Lake Winnipeg is Canada's sixth-largest freshwater lake, and is fed by a vast water basin covering 960,000 square km, extending over four provinces and four American states. The water quality problems facing the lake are the result of excessive nutrients, half of which originate outside Manitoba's borders. The Province of Manitoba, Environment and Climate Change Canada and many other partners have been engaged in several large initiatives to address water quality issues in the Lake Winnipeg Basin. The PPWB Board provides a forum to exchange information on these initiatives with the Provinces of Saskatchewan and Alberta to avoid conflicts before they arise. Some information and links to other websites for further information are provided below on two major initiatives.

As part of its Action Plan for Clean Water, the Government of Canada allocated $17.7 million over four years to establish the Lake Winnipeg Basin Initiative (LWBI). The Province of Manitoba and Environment and Climate Change Canada are working cooperatively to help address deteriorating water quality in Lake Winnipeg. Environment Canada's LWBI focuses on three areas: facilitating watershed governance; research, information and monitoring; and a stewardship fund for projects that reduce nutrient loads into the lake, improving water quality conditions.

In 2003, Manitoba announced the Lake Winnipeg Action Plan, a commitment to reduce nutrient loading to Lake Winnipeg. The multi-stakeholder Lake Winnipeg Stewardship Board was formed as part of Manitoba's provincial plan to protect Lake Winnipeg. The Board's mandate was to assist the Manitoba government in identifying actions required to reduce nutrient loading to Lake Winnipeg. Since 2003, the Board has provided over 135 recommendations to the Manitoba Government and implementation is underway to reduce nutrient loading.