A report seeking approval to release waste from the La Broquerie lagoon missed an important piece of information regarding oxygen levels.

The biological oxygen demand (BOD) is the amount of dissolved oxygen needed by biological organisms to break down organic material and Reeve Lewis Weiss says they will have the BOD tested, and if all looks well, will be able to release by June 15. Until they are able to release the lagoon, Weiss adds, one septic hauler has been given permission to bring waste to the Ste. Anne lagoon to relieve pressure on the La Broquerie site.

Weiss notes the phosphate levels were also too high coming in at 5.9 milligrams/litre instead of the ideal 1.0 milligram/litre. He says the higher the phosphate levels the more trouble there may be for Lake Winnipeg in terms of additional algae. Weiss adds there are ways to decrease the level of phosphate in the lagoon.

La Broquerie lagoon."There has been chemicals that have been approved, unfortunately, some of them, like alum; if you add that in then you no longer can dispose of your sludge at normal disposal sites. [The sludge then] has to go to an actual waste disposal sites, it's no longer good for fertilizer. So, we're working on a system where we would not have to chose those methods."

Weiss adds those systems include natural additives.

During the council meeting on Wednesday there was a concern among council that subdivisions were being approved while the lagoon expansion has yet to be started.

"If we were trying to do a 200 subdivision in an area, I think the province would look different at it, but they keep approving these small ones because, by the time all the paperwork goes through, now you have to market it, now you have to sell it," says Weiss. "The buyer probably won't put anything on until the following year and the province knows that our lagoon project is well underway. All these subdivisions we're approving today, they may not even be building two years from now."

Weiss says they have received money from the provincial and federal government and they continue to put aside money from the municipality for the project.

"Every year we put more [money aside], it's just part of our budget because we know it's a reality," says Weiss. "We have land here and we're waiting for a few more proposals to come forward because we may have to acquire land at another site. We may build a new site but we're waiting for some information before that decision gets made."

He notes the hope is the lagoon project will be able to break ground in 2017.