Preparatory work for a federally funded harbour dredging project is underway at Boundary Creek in Winnipeg Beach, with contractors reinforcing ice conditions to support heavy equipment required for the work.
According to information shared publicly, crews are flooding the mouth of Boundary Creek to thicken the ice so it can support a long-boom excavator. Snow has been cleared from the ice surface to allow flooding of approximately two inches per day, with the goal of reaching ice thickness between 38 and 42 inches.
The work is being carried out at the Winnipeg Beach Small Craft Harbour, a federal property owned and managed by Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO).
In an emailed response, Carol Launderville, communications advisor for Fisheries and Oceans Canada in the Ontario and Prairie Region, said the project involves maintenance dredging of the harbour’s entrance channel, with an estimated total dredge volume of approximately 1,210 cubic metres of material over a total area of about 1,321 square metres.
Launderville said winter dredging was selected to minimize disruption to harbour users by avoiding the busy open-water and commercial navigation season.
Temporary sediment control measures are also being installed beneath the ice along the mouth and south side of the channel. Launderville said the project includes the use of a turbidity curtain to help contain sediment within the work area, in accordance with mitigation strategies and best management practices guided by DFO’s Fish and Fish Habitat Protection Program.
Public discussion around the project intensified after residents noted that only a 10-foot-wide channel from the end of the breakwater partway toward the marina is scheduled to be dredged. Launderville said this section represents only a portion of the overall project and is intended to widen the existing entrance channel.
Some residents have questioned whether the narrow channel will provide a lasting solution, suggesting currents, wave action and fluctuating lake levels could result in the channel silting in again within a few years.
Launderville said maintenance dredging at the Winnipeg Beach harbour typically occurs on a three- to five-year cycle, noting that in recent years low water levels combined with high winds on Lake Winnipeg have contributed to increased sedimentation in the entrance channel. The current work, she said, is part of an ongoing maintenance strategy rather than a one-time or permanent fix.
Town officials have emphasized that the municipality has no role in the project. In a statement, chief administrative officer Jodi Mitchell said the Town of Winnipeg Beach is not involved in planning, funding or supervising the Boundary Creek dredging work and has not been consulted on the project’s scope or schedule.
“Any activities in the lake fall under federal authority,” Mitchell said, adding that no municipal ratepayer funds are being allocated to the project. She also said council and the municipal office have not received any concerns or questions from residents regarding the dredging to date.
Details on the project cost are publicly available through the federal CanadaBuys procurement website.
