Drainage contributing to flooding in western Canada, expert says

Bruce Johnstone in the Leader Post (Regina): An expert on hydrology and climate change believes the recent flooding in Saskatchewan and Manitoba has been exacerbated by the widespread drainage of agricultural lands that have increased water volumes that flow downstream into Manitoba. “The short answer is, yes I do,’’ said John Pomeroy, Canada research chair in water resources and climate change and director of the Centre for Hydrology at the University of Saskatchewan.

Pomeroy, who has studied water volumes on the Smith Creek watershed over the last 55 years, says agricultural drainage of sloughs and other wetlands appears to have been one of the factors in the recent flooding. “The volume of streamflow is basically doubled from what it was if the wetlands had stayed intact in 1958,’’ Pomeroy said. “It looks like the peak flows have increased about 30 per cent from that.’’

Pomeroy said the Churchbridge-Langenburg area has seen it wetlands reduced from 25 per cent in 1958 to 10 per cent in recent years. “There’s been a lot of drainage there ... It gives us some idea of the impact of drainage in a lot of the Assiniboine (River system),’’ Pomeroy added.

Pomeroy said the floods in 2011 and 2014 have seen the confluence of several factors, including multiple days of persistent rainfall in summer, while previous floods were due to excessive snowmelt in the spring.

“This is what’s making it a perfect storm," Pomeroy said. “There’s been a lot of difficulty in estimating the flood peaks because things like this (agricultural drainage) are making older observations more difficult to interpret. So we’re seeing something that is — it’s a cliché to call it climate change — but that’s exactly what this is.”

And he believes the Saskatchewan government should be doing what the Manitoba government has done by bringing in stiff penalties for illegally draining farmland. “Manitoba made it (unauthorized agricultural drainage) against the law on June 10 with really strict regulations and big fines.’...’

A 2011 flood on the Red River in Winnipeg, shot by Shahnoor Habib Munmun, Wikimedia Commons via Flickr, under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license 

Was Saskatchewan prepared enough for the flood of 2014?

Bruce Johnstone in the Star-Phoenix (Saskatchewan): With the Flood of 2014 barely over and the clean up just begun, it's far too early to be pointing fingers of blame at government or anyone else for failing to predict the magnitude of the flooding or prevent it from happening.

However, it's not too early to ask some pointed questions about the extent of our preparedness for these types of disasters, whether our response was adequate and, more importantly, whether we can expect these events to occur more frequently in the future.

...But Wall added we've learned a lot from the 2011 experience. "We've just purchased more equipment. We have better knowledge, better expertise by our response team.' More pumps and temporary barriers were acquired, while forest firefighting crews and resources were repurposed to help mitigate the flood damage in the soggy southeast and east-central portions of the province. The Provincial Disaster Assistance Program (PDAP), which provides coverage against flood damage not covered by insurance, has been approved for 37 municipalities, including Regina and Melville.

And the province has set aside $500 million in its (aptly named) "rainy day' fund that will be used to cover its share of its PDAP costs, which amounted to $163 million in 2011. (Ottawa picked up the other $200 million.)

...So what more could have been done to prevent this flood or better prepare for it? Manitobans have complained for years that unauthorized drainage projects in Saskatchewan have contributed to flooding on the Manitoba side of the border. Wall himself has suggested that agricultural drainage may be partly to blame for exacerbating, if not causing, the widespread flooding that seems to be occurring more frequently in recent years....

2009 flooding in Manitoba, shot by Shawn, Wikimedia Commons via Flickr,  under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license

Manitoba caught in climate change crosshairs

Mary Agnes Welch in the Winnipeg Free Press: After a terrible winter and four massive floods in a decade, Manitoba is already starting to get a taste of the extreme weather that's a hallmark of climate change. But in the absence of any global commitment to shrink greenhouse gas emissions, the provincial government and local scientists have begun to study just how weird the weather will get in Manitoba over the next couple of generations and what to do about it. It doesn't look good. Manitoba is "climate change central," says Blair.

Already, average winter temperatures in the southern Prairies, including Manitoba, have warmed three degrees over the last 40 years. In the distant-horizon world of climate science, that's massive. The shorter, warmer winters have added nearly a month onto the Prairie growing season. If the trend continues, and there is little hope it won't, we'll see winters that are seven degrees warmer by mid-century.

Summer temperatures have not changed as fast, but Blair says they likely will, especially if global emissions continue apace. In one worst-case-scenario model, Winnipeg could see the number of extreme-heat days, where the mercury tops 30 C, triple by mid-century. We have about 13 super-hot days now. Some models predict as many as 60.

Those data, and much more, are embedded in a new climate atlas Blair, his team from the University of Winnipeg and the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) are creating for the provincial government. So far, the team's study of historic
temperature and precipitation figures and its future models have produced some eye-popping results, especially in the north.

...Manitoba, say local climate experts, is about to feel very different. As the climate warms, we can expect more bugs, such as the beetles that kill elm trees, the mosquitos that transmit West Nile and the ticks responsible for Lyme disease. Forest fires will likely become more common, damaging a key industry in the province and altering air quality. Bad roads, including pothole epidemics such as the one Winnipeg suffered this spring, will become more common as the freeze-thaw cycle and extreme heat harms every bit of transportation infrastructure from railroad ties to winter ice roads. There could be more algae blooms on Lake Winnipeg, more seniors who die of heatstroke and less tourism as polar bears and whales relocate or disappear....

2009 flooding in Manitoba, shot by Shawn, Wikimedia Commons via Flickr, under the Creative Commons 2.0 license

Flood of woes for Manitoba's farmers

Laura Rance in the Winnipeg Free Press: There is a growing recognition surface-water management, which is political-speak for drainage, is affecting both the flooding intensity as well as water quality in Manitoba.

Estimates vary, but at least some of Manitoba's water problems stem from the ongoing and largely uncontrolled drainage of wetlands across the Prairies. Wetland loss in the Red River Valley since the late 1800s is estimated at 90 per cent. Losses across the Prairies range from 40 to 70 per cent. The province launched a surface-water-management policy consultation last April as part of a number of initiatives analyzing how this province can better manage water quantity -- be that shortages or excess -- and water quality. A new strategy is due to be released in the spring of 2013.

It needs to be said we wouldn't have much for agriculture in this province without drainage. Until very recently, water management was synonymous with how to build bigger, better and more efficient ditches, ranging from Duff's Ditch right on down to field drains on individual farms. On the surface, attitudes are changing. But they have a long way to go. Whatever emerges by way of policy is bound to be divisive.

Even though there are now regulations requiring farmers to obtain a licence to undertake drainage, there's widespread acknowledgment among farmers and municipal leaders enforcement is a joke. It's common for farmers speaking at public meetings to brag their personal policy is to drain now and ask forgiveness later.

"The big problem is enforcement is lacking," Souris-area producer and farm leader Walter Finlay told the farm writers. Farmers commonly say they are just 'cleaning out' a ditch. But, "I've seen situations where you couldn't see the top of the exhaust pipe on a four-wheel-drive tractor."...

The Red River in flood in April 2009 at St. Andrews, shot by J Hazard, public domain

Huge new boreal forest preserve in Manitoba

Kim Murphy in the Los Angeles Times: Efforts to combat climate change and diminishing wildlands have increasingly focused on the vast belt of northern forest that rings the globe south of the Arctic. The boreal forest is a vast repository of stored carbon and, in much of northern Canada, a pristine region populated by wolves and caribou along rivers still teeming with fish.

The forest in Canada's Manitoba province has been under threat in recent years by expanding hydropower development. A major new electrical transmission line has been sought through the wild woodlands east of Lake Winnipeg, a plan many indigenous residents say would threaten a region they have called home for thousands of years. Now the government of Manitoba has granted permanent legal protection to nearly 2 million acres -- an area the size of Yellowstone National Park -- on the ancestral lands of the Poplar River First Nation people.

The "Asatiwisipe Aki Management Plan" is being celebrated by conservation groups across Canada and the United States, which see it as a crucial step toward protecting the boreal forest not only for the people of the Poplar River and the wildlife there, but as a hedge against a warming planet.

Manitoba Premier Greg Selinger said the Poplar River reserve, about 250 miles north of Winnipeg, is part of a larger, 10-million-acre area being proposed for designation as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. "This is really important for us, because we do think it's a priceless world asset, and you only get one chance to do it right," Selinger said in an interview.

"What's unique about it is not only do the First Nations still occupy it, but it's intact. There's a complete ecosystem that generates clean water, oxygen; there's a huge storage of peat that's one of the most effective ways to store carbon dioxide."…

Map of Manitoba from Atlas of Canada by Natural Resources Canada

Manitoba studies strategy to help flooded farmland, address climate change

Chinta Puxley in the Canadian Press: After four soggy years of flooded pastures and ruined crops, the Manitoba government is looking at how to help frustrated farmers cope with climate change in the province's Interlake region.

The province has quietly issued a request for proposals for a study on how to deal with "excess moisture on agricultural lands" in the area sandwiched between Lake Manitoba and Lake Winnipeg, north of the provincial capital. The study is to include a look at drainage policy, crop insurance and best practices by affected farmers.

The government is also looking to the future. It wants a weather forecast "with emphasis on soil moisture extremes, including risk of flooding/excess moisture and drought events." Many frustrated farmers say the proposed study is too little, too late, but the province says it's an important part of coming up with a strategy to help beleaguered producers.

Tony Szumigalski, a policy analyst with the Agriculture Ministry, said climate change appears to be causing greater extremes on the Prairies — from drought in Alberta to chronic flooding in Manitoba.

"The Interlake has been under water for the last three or four years," he said. "It's been very difficult, especially for a lot of the livestock producers. Their hay fields have been flooded out so there have been issues getting enough hay. There have also been issues related to crops as well."

This spring has been particularly bad as the province struggled for weeks to contain the swollen Assiniboine River. That water has now flowed into Lake Manitoba where it has swallowed up hundreds of hectares of farmland along its shores. The lake isn't expected to crest until July and experts say it is likely to stay high for the rest of the year…

Damage from the 2005 flood at the Forks Market in Winnipeg, on the Assiniboine River

Start fighting Manitoba's next flood now

Josh Brandon in the Winnipeg Free Press: The flood season of 2011 is among the worst Manitoba has ever seen. Many residents are now demanding permanent solutions to our chronic flood problems. Provincial and municipal flood officials are pouring tremendous resources into moving more water through our valleys, but the laws of physics limit the speed at which water will move across the prairie landscape. Long-term solutions to our flood woes require looking upstream.

Two environmental factors are major influences: global climate change and loss of wetlands. Until we address these problems, flooding in Manitoba is likely to worsen. We have had a string of wet years in which records have been broken across the Red River basin. The flood of 1997 was seen as a one-in-100-year event, but levels approaching or exceeding those levels were seen in 2009 and again this year on parts of the river. Now records are being surpassed on the Assiniboine also. It seems the normal flood cycle is changing.

The loss of wetlands is a significant contributor. Manitoba is home to more than 22 million hectares of wetlands, an area larger than Great Britain. Unfortunately, up to 70 per cent of wetlands have been lost or degraded in some parts of the province. Despite the introduction of restoration and conservation programs in recent years, wetlands loss continues. Every year, 2,000 hectares of wetlands are lost in southwestern Manitoba alone.

Farmers' desire to drain their lands is understandable. It is easier to drive a tractor through a wetland than around it. Wetlands not only represent lost potential crop area, but tax regimes often penalize farmers who choose not to plant wetlands. Meanwhile, population growth and urban sprawl have put pressure on wetlands to be drained for residential development….

The Red River flooding in Winnipeg, shot by Shahnoor Habib Munmun, Wikimedia Commons via Flickr, under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license

Manitoba ranchers move cattle as floodwaters rise

Rod Nickel in Reuters: Manitoba ranchers scrambled to move cattle to higher ground on Friday as efforts to contain record flooding on the Assiniboine River funneled high water into a major livestock region. Across Manitoba, 3,200 people have left their homes because of flooding, including 1,300 in Brandon, the province's second-largest city.

To contain flooding along the Assiniboine, Manitoba is forcing about one-third more water than normal capacity through a the Portage Diversion, an engineered channel that has been fortified to carry the extra flow, and divert it into Lake Manitoba. That move has eased pressure on dikes, but is swamping pasture around the lake and forcing ranchers to move cattle -- some likely as far as the neighboring province of Saskatchewan.

Some ranchers have estimated they may need to move up to 100,000 cattle, or about 9 percent of Manitoba's herd. The provincial government has declared the situation a "livestock emergency" and estimated the number of cattle to move in the thousands…

Historic flooding strikes Canada

Disaster News Network: Canadian officials say this year's spring flooding in Manitoba has covered more land than any other year, with the peak high water still weeks away.

Provincial Minister of Transportation and Infrastructure Steve Ashton told reporters in Winnipeg this year's annual flood is "unprecedented on a geographic scale,'' and is affecting most of Manitoba's 197 municipalities, the Winnipeg Free Press reported. "I want to stress this is a very serious flood,'' he said.

While dense snow is melting, more is falling in places and rain is also contributing to the flooding. Large dams of broken ice are also part of the problem and the province has several machines working at breaking up ice dams to allow water to flow, the Winnipeg Sun said.

Hydrologists predicted the Red River around Winnipeg will crest as high as 22.8 feet between April 30 and May 4, the Sun said...

From April 2010, a picture showing the Forks dock in Winnipeg, Manitoba flooded by the Assiniboine River. Shot by , Wikimedia Commons, under the Creative CommonsAttribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license