The Province of Manitoba is making major investments in water level regulation and the flood water management system along the lower Assiniboine River, including Lake Manitoba and Lake St. Martin.
“We are moving forward to implement greater flood protection by enhancing Lake Manitoba and Lake St. Martin outflow capacities as part of the larger flood management system that includes the Portage Diversion and the Fairford River Water Control Structure,” said Infrastructure and Transportation Minister Steve Ashton. “Individual property protection, combined with increased capacity of Lake Manitoba and Lake St. Martin, will greatly improve flood protection in these areas.”
The Red River Valley in Manitoba is currently protected by a floodway, a primary diking system, and community and individual ring dikes, and the province will look to that system to inform its decisions on Lake Manitoba and the Assiniboine River. The Province has developed extensive flood mitigation strategies since major flooding in 1950.
“This integrated flood mitigation strategy has worked well as a system since that time and has prevented billions of dollars of damage,” said Minister Ashton. “This investment will require more than 30 steps and cost hundreds of millions of dollars to provide similar additional benefits.”
