Phosphorous and Hogs

Tuesday, November 28: Herm Martens, Reeve of the R.M. of Morris, in Winnipeg for the Annual Meeting of the Association of Manitoba Municipalities, stopped by to visit at the Legislature. We discussed how best to approach the problem of reducing the amount of phosphorous coming from hog farms going into Lake Winnipeg.

Herm Martens was clear. There are two good measures they have been promoting in the R.M. of Morris. First, the have required hog manure to be injected into the ground. This dramatically reduces the amount of phosphorous on the surface which can run off into the creeks and rivers and into Lake Winnipeg. [Sadly, the province has now taken over regulating this - and the province is much less strict and no longer requires manure to be injected. This is an example of bad provincial NDP policy] Second, they have eliminated the winter spreading of hog manure. It is hog manure spread in the winter on the field which can so easily have phosphorous from the manure run into the creeks and rivers and into Lake Winnipeg during the spring runoff. Graphs of the timing of the phosphorous going into Lake Winnipeg shows a huge peak associated with spring runoff - and reducing the phosphorous in the spring runoff must be a priority. These two measures will do a lot more than the NDP's moratorium on hog barn construction.