March 18, 2008
New Regulations To Establish Water Protection Areas, Strengthen Efforts To Restore Health Of Lake Winnipeg
– – –Measures Will Establish Buffer Zones Along Lakes and Rivers Provincewide: Melnick
New water protection areas to be established under a new regulation will strengthen protection of Lake Winnipeg and help all Manitobans play a role in protecting the province’s precious water resources, Water Stewardship Minister Christine Melnick announced today in the lead-up to World Water Day on March 22.
“The establishment of new water protection areas signals our further commitment to restoring the health of Lake Winnipeg,” said Melnick. “Along with livestock and grain producers, other Manitobans such as cottagers and golf course owners will have clear regulations to guide how nutrients can be applied to land to better protect water quality.”
The new regulation sets out restrictions on the application of nitrogen and phosphorus to all types of land in Manitoba including golf courses, municipal sludge from waste-water treatment systems, and farms. Included are buffer zones along rivers, lakes and streams where nutrients cannot be applied. The regulation also restricts the development of facilities such as sewage‑treatment plants and lagoons, manure storage facilities and septic fields in environmentally-sensitive areas.
Starting next year, homeowners, groundskeepers at golf courses, parks and municipalities, and farmers with land next to a body of water will no longer be allowed to apply fertilizer in buffer zones along these waterways under the Water Protection Act which now defines water protection areas.
The regulation will create a buffer zone of a minimum three metres along every waterway in Manitoba. Fifteen-metre buffer zones will be established along vulnerable rivers that are drinking water sources including the Red and Assiniboine rivers, and 30-metre zones will be established for vulnerable lakes including Lake Winnipeg and Lake Manitoba.
Later this spring, further restrictions will be announced for the use of lawn fertilizers, said Melnick.
“These latest initiatives build on measures our government has taken to restrict application of lawn fertilizers in residential areas and to virtually eliminate phosphorus in household automatic dishwasher detergents,” the minister said.
Extensive public consultations on the new regulation were held over the past two and half years including open houses and meetings with stakeholder groups.
Full details on the new regulations are available at www.gov.mb.ca/waterstewardship/.
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