Class Discussion

In class on April 5 we watched a movie called FAT lake, which talked about the eutrophication in lake Winnipeg. A lot of the nutrients are coming from Winnipeg via the Red River and Manitoba from agriculture and hog farms. After talking to my friends, they feel a big concern to them is that even though Manitoba's hog and agricultural industry is large, we should be able to continue into the future by reducing the impact that these industries have on lake Winnipeg without sacrifice to their production. They feel that more money needs to be invested into technology. I totally agree with this but my concern is the nutrients coming from the city of Winnipeg. As a large city we are responsible for the bodies of water that we are connected to and the nutrients that we dispose, which are affecting others like the fishermen in lake Winnipeg. I am not from Manitoba but I know that lakes are important to people of the area because they provide jobs and a place for recreation. On the video they interviewed some people on the beach at lake Winnipeg and a lot of their answers were unintelligent like, "is this even lake Winnipeg?" I think that this documentary wanted to create the effect that no one knows about the nutrients in lake Winnipeg but I believe that those who are in contact with the lake or people associated with it know. It is just the task of getting the awareness out to the remaining public about what we are doing to lake Winnipeg, what they can do to help, and why they should help. One thing that I do to try and reduce my impact is only use phosphorous-free soap because it is available and has less of an impact on water ecosystems. I try and do as many good things that I can for the environment when I have the choice, but sometimes when I don't have a choice I try and reduce my impact by doing that activity less frequently. Before I moved to the NWT I used to live on Katepwa Lake in Saskatchewan and I only remember one year when we had a really bad out break of algae on the lake, which most likely was because of excess nutrients. This summer I went back to Katepwa lake for two weekends and both times there was algae on the lake and fish bones washed up on shore! Katepwa lake has most likely seen an increase in nutrients like Winnipeg and it is sad because it's such a beautiful place to go in the summer.