Manitoba's minister of Infrastructure and Emergency Measures saw first-hand the severe drought situation in Southern Manitoba during a tour of the region on Saturday. The tour took him to the Red River at Letellier before moving on to stops further west. He was accompanied by MLAs Cameron Friesen for Morden-Winkler, Blaine Pedersen for Midland and Josh Guenter for Borderland, as well as municipal officials and representatives from various provincial departments.

"We as a province are facing an epic drought...all the way through to the Interlake," said Ron Schuler, noting Lake Manitoba alone has dropped by half a foot in the last month, and another four inches in the last week. "We are facing a very dry event. Our government is aware of it...we are talking about what we can do to help the situation."

 

According to Schuler, Manitoba is experiencing a 1 in 700-year drought, adding you'd have to go back to 1934/35 to find similarly historic lows as what is currently being recorded on the Red River.
Since July 23rd, flows have declined another 368 cubic feet per second (cfs) down to 384 cfs as of last week Thursday, and the river has dropped another 11.9 inches. Since June 25th, the Red has gone down a total of 32.3 inches.

"It's all tied together," said Schuler. "It's very important to look at what's happening here at the Red River, at the source."

The Minister noted how this is truly a provincial issue. "What it basically indicates to us as Government is this isn't localized," said Schuler. "We know, for instance, Lake Manitoba, which is a very big concern of ours, lost half a foot in one month, and last week it lost four inches. It's not just Lake Manitoba, it's not just the Interlake, it's also this region. We've got to look for the next twelve months, maybe the next eighteen months. We're not to sure how long this drought will last, and we have to prepare ourselves. We've got to get stuff in place to be ready, not just for now, but also for next spring."

The Minister affirmed the Government's support as municipalities continue to weather the situation, noting local officials are on top of it and showing "amazing leadership".

"They've got amazing ideas and plans, and the Government of Manitoba will always backstop," said Schuler. "We're going to be there behind them wherever we can, to do what we need to do, to ensure we always have water for drinking, cooking and those important things we need to sustain life."

Ron Schuler, Manitoba's minister of Infrastructure and Emergency Measures