March 27, 2006

The province and municipalities will soon start work to complete the diking system protecting Lake Winnipeg waterfront communities and property from flooding, Water Stewardship Minister Steve Ashton announced today.

"In response to municipal requests for assistance, the province provided financial support last fall to build a series of dikes that were successful in protecting residents and community property in the south basin," Ashton said. "The diking system withstood repeated lashings from wind-driven water and two fall storms on Oct. 5 and Nov. 15 and 16. We are now announcing support for municipalities to complete the work and make this flood protection permanent."

An engineering survey last fall assessed the integrity of the 30-year-old diking system and revealed that few repairs were needed in the approximately 100 kilometres of existing dikes. The survey also identified gaps in the original protection system that created risks for some lakeside development communities. Municipalities were informed of the risk potential and that additional diking would be advisable to withstand high lake levels which, combined with traditional autumn wind storms, threatened waterfront communities.

"The province has ordered an additional 20 portable pumps and activated provincial forest fire attack crews to address the immediate requirement for spring pumping of ice melt," said Ashton.

The work to be completed includes:

• pumping snowmelt and rainfall run-off in the vicinity of the dikes, removing super sandbags from existing drains and installing drainage culverts;

• repairing damage from fall storms;

• shaping, grading and seeding the dikes; and

• restoring private property that may have been damaged during emergency dike construction in the fall.

When completed, the diking system will provide a long-term standardized protection level to both permanent and recreational property owners in lakefront communities.

"The province also funded restoration of the Winnipeg Beach seawall last summer as part of the overall effort to protect communities and a very important ecotourism area," said Ashton. "We continue the co-operative effort with municipal officials to protect lake communities and people."

More information and periodic updates for property owners are available at http://www.gov.mb.ca/waterstewardship.

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