An Interlake farmer called his rural municipality to help with flooding but when it stepped in, so did the Province, with fines.
The low-lying property in Moosehorn has flooded before, but this year a calf was born underwater and farmer David Gall had enough.
“I found a calf laying in three inches of water,” said Gall. “We brought him in to the porch and dried him off and he's fine, but I just got fed up and said we [have] do something.”
A road blocks the water from draining into nearby Lake Manitoba, so Gall called the rural municipality of Grahamdale for help. The RM cut the road, allowing the water to drain. The culvert would flow water onto private property without permission from the landowner downstream.
“We figured that we had to cut the road here to relieve the pressure on the north side, so we made that decision," said Dan Maeisner, councillor for the RM.
A decision the province did not like because the landowner downstream said no.
Coun. Meisner said the Water Stewardship Department planned to fine him, the RM, and the contractor who made the cut for putting in an unlicensed culvert but decided against it.
Those concerned with the health of Manitoba Lakes said problems like this are part of a bigger issue. Vicki Burns from the Save Lake Winnipeg Project said run-off causes phosphorous and nitrate to wind up in Manitoba's lakes, feeding toxic algae blooms.
"If the one farm drains his land, it's apt to hurt the farmers that are downstream,” said Burns. “And then it definitely hurts whatever lake is the final receiving body."
The province said the situation is under review and fines or charges are possible if all parties cannot work out a solution.
