November 7, 2012
Lake St. Martin Emergency Channel to be Closed
– – –Channel Successfully Lowered Lake St. Martin, Lake Manitoba
Manitoba Infrastructure and Transportation advises the province’s temporary authorization from the federal government for the operation of the Lake St. Martin emergency channel expires Nov. 30 and work to close the channel will commence in the near future. The emergency outlet channel was built to drain flood water from Lake St. Martin and Lake Manitoba and will be closed by the end of November.
Both lakes are now within normal operating ranges. At the peak of the 2011 flood, Lake Manitoba reached a level of 817.15 feet above sea level and Lake St. Martin reached 805.50 ft. above sea level. As of Oct. 29, 2012, Lake Manitoba was down to 812.06 ft. above sea level and Lake St. Martin was 799.72 ft. above sea level.
Rock fill will be pushed across the channel entrance to close off the flow of water from Lake St. Martin into the channel. The department states environmental monitoring will take place during the closure process with continued efforts to minimize impacts to local habitat and a longer-term environmental monitoring program is being implemented to ensure the full impacts of the emergency channel are documented and mitigation requirements identified.
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