Phosphorous in discharges from municipal sewage lagoons - the elephant in the room we must address

Yesterday, in speaking to the delegates at the Association of Manitoba Municipalities Convention in Brandon, I talked about the need to decrease the phosphorous in the discharges from municipal lagoons. It is a subject which the NDP have steadfastly avoided talking about. But we must address it because right now, when water is discharged from sewage lagoons around Manitoba into our waterways, the water is usually rich in phosphorous and the phosphorous is contributing to the algal blooms and problems in Lake Winnipeg, Killarney Lake and other lakes around our province.

My speech to the AMM delegates is below:

Welcome delegates.
It is always a pleasure to be able to come to your annual meeting to meet and to talk with you about vital issues affecting Manitoba’s municipalities. As municipal leaders, you have your fingers on the pulse of the province. It is always good to work with you on what we can do together for the future of our children and the future of our province.

In the last 5 months I’ve travelled to all seven of your association’s districts and, I’ve spent time meeting with Manitobans in more than 50 communities. During my tours I was able to meet personally with some you, and I would like to thank you for arranging your schedules: I have found your advice and counsel helpful.

There are many important issues this year. They include infrastructure programs, drainage and water management programs, ambulance services, access to health and child care services and many issues with the agricultural economy.

But today, I want to talk about an elephant in the room, which, collectively we have to deal with. This elephant is the management of phosphorous in the discharge from our municipal lagoons. The problem is this – when second stage sewage lagoons are discharged into our waterways, they normally contain a lot of phosphorous. Clearly this needs to be managed better than the province has managed sewage ejectors and many other local issues.

Most everyone here understands, that the public awareness about the need to reduce phosphorous in our waterways is growing. Phosphorous is the major limiting nutrient when it comes to the growth of algae. When water contains lots of phosphorous, it is the perfect environment for algal blooms, and when water is very low in phosphorous algae will not grow, or will grow only in small, manageable, amounts. This basic fact was established more than 30 years ago in elegant experiments done by David Schindler and others at the Experimental Lakes Area in north-western Ontario. It has been reaffirmed in much work since then. The original work led directly to the clean up and recovery of Lake Erie, its fishery and its tourism.
Many Manitoba Lakes, not just Lake Winnipeg, are troubled by problems with excessive algal blooms.

One such is Killarney Lake where the algal blooms have developed so intensely that there were major odour problems, a significant fish die off, and a dramatic decrease in the number of people swimming in Killarney Lake or visiting the community. This has also had big impact on Killarney businesses. Imagine if you had a restaurant beside a stinking algal filled lake. It is not pretty. And a 30% drop in business impacts the future of the business and the future of the tax base of your community.

As in other circumstances, when the problem, in this case the algae in Killarney Lake, affects the whole community, all of a sudden there is a realization that something has to change.
As almost all of you here are already aware, there have been measures taken, some controversial, to reduce phosphorous in our waterways.

While I applaud the general direction, I certainly disagree with some of the measures. I do not agree with the Bill 17 moratorium on the hog industry the way the NDP have imposed it. In my view, it would have been far better to bring in common sense approaches to ensure gradual and steady improvement in the industry and allow the industry to be innovative in moving forward and indeed in leading the world in developing improved environmental approaches. Instead, the NDP reduced the equity and flexibility in the industry at the very time when it is facing very difficult economic times.

When we had the hearings on Bill 17, I noticed that we had many people come to present who observed that they, as hog farmers, were being unduly picked upon. Many referenced the fact that municipal lagoons around Manitoba discharge effluent which contains significant amounts of phosphorous directly into our waterways, while they as farmers were being very closely regulated to make sure as little phosphorous as possible enters our waterways.

It should be pretty clear to most people in this room, that we have reached the point that we are going to have to address the issue of phosphorous discharge from municipal lagoons. The citizens in your municipalities are asking for it and it is only a matter of time before governments react to the public demands and begin to mandate change.

I talked with a number of municipal leaders about this, and one of the very strong messages I got back is this. Municipal leaders from around Manitoba are ready to act, so long as the timelines and the requirements are similar for all municipalities, including Winnipeg. Fairness and equality are paramount.

As most of you are also aware, Winnipeg, has itself been given a date to reduce the phosphorous in sewage discharge to 1mg/Liter, by 2014.

In the Manitoba Liberal Party, we are therefore moving to introduce a bill to act as a catalyst in creating serious debate on this issue. Our bill would require all municipalities to measure the phosphorous in the water before it is discharged and would require reductions in the phosphorous leaving the municipal lagoons starting in 2016 and reaching l mg/l or less by 2017.
We are bringing this bill forward to be a point of discussion and a starting point because the NDP have neglected this topic. This issue must be dealt and the Manitoba Liberal Party does not want to see municipalities backed into a corner by legislation that has been rushed through without thoughtful discussions with communities. The right solution will be found through consultations between the province and municipalities.

At the moment under present legislation, municipalities are only required to test for e. coli bacteria levels, and to wait until the level is below a certain level before the water is discharged from the lagoon.

And there are solutions already being used by some municipalities. For example, Carberry has been using their effluent for irrigation for more than 20 years. This is a much better option than releasing the lagoon effluent into the Assiniboine River.

You might well ask, where will the funding come to make the changes in municipal lagoons around the province. As many of you know, I have been at the very front of the effort to get the province to stop requiring the City of Winnipeg to remove nitrogen as well as phosphorous from its sewage. The removal of nitrogen as well as phosphorous will cost the City of Winnipeg at least $350 million extra.

Eighty per cent of the air we breathe is nitrogen and algae can readily obtain the nitrogen they need from the air, so removing nitrogen from the water is totally unnecessary.

The province should instead take the money it saves by not requiring nitrogen removal by the City of Winnipeg to fund phosphorous removal by municipalities outside of Winnipeg.
Manitoba Liberals feel strongly that the province should use common sense and listen to the science and the scientists and abandon their call for the City of Winnipeg to remove nitrogen from their waste water. The money that the province would have given the City, for use in the upgrades for nitrogen removal , can be re-directed to municipalities to use in reducing phosphorus, the nutrient that research confirms needs to be removed.

I want to stress that the province should not be spending tax payer’s money on the useless removal of nitrogen. We also know that municipalities are certainly going to be called on to reduce phosphorus but they should not have to bear the total burden of water treatment upgrades mandated by the province.

The topic of water management and water treatment is an elephant for all levels of government. Municipalities should be concerned about the potential financial impact of the inevitable provincial mandates requiring phosphorus removal from sewage lagoon discharge.
I am confident that if the government were to use the most up to date science and research while mandating changes to sewage lagoon output but also operated proactively and started inviting municipalities to the table for discussions – this current elephant of an issue would become more manageable for all parties. We are preparing for a better future for all – especially for our children.

Thank you, Merci