Province invites feedback on new colony’s proposed lagoon in Armstrong

A new Hutterite colony in the RM of Armstrong is proposing to build a wastewater lagoon on the border of the RM of Gimli and has applied for a provincial environmental licence.

The public has until Nov. 27 to provide feedback to the government about the proposed project, which will be built by the Crystal Spring Hutterite Colony. 

Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, the colony had purchased land (Section 28-18-3E) on the west side of Road 15E, which forms the border between Armstrong and Gimli to establish a new colony. 

Representatives from the colony had appeared at an Armstrong council meeting Feb. 11, 2020, saying the colony will have 97 people and that they intend to manufacture parts for hog barns and raise 15,000 chickens (see Feb. 20, 2020 online edition of the Express).

The government’s notice of environment act proposal states the proposed lagoon will be designed to treat wastewater for an expected population of 250 people, an abattoir and runoff from residential weeping tile.

An RM of Armstrong resident, who lives in the vicinity of the colony and who asked not to be named, said he and other residents have a number of concerns regarding the proposed lagoon that will be – according to a site map provided in a technical document posted on the government’s webpage – situated on the southeast corner of the colony’s land, along Road 15E.

He said a colony with 250 people is like a “small town popping up in your backyard” and residents are really concerned about possible groundwater and surface water contamination.

Based on his own knowledge of lagoons, he said there’s a potential for raw waste to leak into the environment, including during significant precipitation and flooding events, as well as to seep into the aquifer, which supplies farms and nearby communities with drinking water.

“Even though they try with lagoons to contain them and have some sort of a liner, there’s eventual leakage and seepage into the groundwater aquifer,” said the resident. “Everybody in the area gets their water from the same groundwater aquifer, which slowly moves from northwest to southeast in this area. It eventually moves towards Lake Winnipeg. With the potential for seepage into the aquifer, it’s possible it could contaminate many people to the east and southeast, including Sandy Hook.”

He said he thinks the colony’s situating the lagoon on the southeast corner of their property is strategic to mitigate any potential seepage into the colony’s own wells and to mitigate the smell of their fecal matter and other waste through prevailing winds from the northwest.

“In my mind, I find it unconscionable that the colony’s proposed site for the lagoon is closer to their neighbours than it is to their own housing structures,” he said. “There’s no way that should be approved. It’s like they’re saying they don’t want that stink by them, but it’s okay if it’s close to the neighbours. It’s also right along a [school] bus route and a market road.”

It’s his understanding that lagoons have to be drained every so often and that the wastewater will likely – as it’s the only place – be discharged into ditches that connect to nearby Willow Creek. The wastewater will eventually make its way into Lake Winnipeg, he said. 

“Willow Creek is a spawning stream for pickerel and other aquatic species and this should be a big concern to commercial fishers on Lake Winnipeg,” said the resident. “Willow Creek drains into the lake by Siglavik and Miklavik, subdivisions with homes and cottages. Those developments have water channels from the creek going right into their backyards so this isn’t an insignificant thing. This is not just going to affect a few landowners nearby in Armstrong, it will also affect the water quality at all those homes.”

Lake Winnipeg commercial fisher Robert T. Kristjanson, 89, who has been a longtime witness to the degradation of Lake Winnipeg from pollutants in wastewater, raw sewage and agricultural runoff, said he contacted the province’s environment and climate change minister regarding the proposed lagoon and the current state of the lake.

“I phoned the environment minister, Tracy Schmidt, to tell her I want to have a meeting with her and I want to work with her on Lake Winnipeg. I don’t want to be against her. We have to be able to sit down with our leaders and let them know about this issue,” said Kristjanson, who earned the Order of Manitoba in 2018 for bringing attention to its frequent algal blooms. “So far, I haven’t heard a word.”

Kristjanson said he feels the proposed lagoon on the border of Gimli is too close to the watershed and the lake and could possibly contaminate it.

“They’re only about 12 feet from the groundwater aquifer,” he said. “You put in a lagoon like that and it will leak into the watershed. This is swampy land back in there.”

Kristjanson said he’s not against the farming industry, but he is against practices that contribute to nutrient overloading in the lake and which in turn cause algal blooms, and a lack of laws or enforcement of the laws that are supposed to protect the environment. 

“I want to thank our last government (Conservative) for doing nothing on what we went through on Lake Winnipeg over the past few months with the algal blooms. During the fall fishing season (Sept. to Nov.) we haven’t seen algae like this in the south basin of the lake for a long time now. It filled up all our harbours; the algae were so strong you couldn’t believe it,” he said. “I want to also thank them for the millions of gallons of waste being dumped from Winnipeg. Isn’t it awful that we have to live with our lake being used as a lagoon.”

Armstrong reeve Kate Basford said the province will be the body that approves or denies the proposal for a wastewater lagoon, and that council has had discussions with colony representatives regarding concerns residents have brought to their attention. 

“Council did have a meeting with the colony in regards to where the lagoon is to be located and the dynamics of it. We voiced our potential concerns on behalf of ratepayers and we’re trying to work with the colony,” said Basford. “Unfortunately, previous council, which approved the sale of the land, did not have a real dialogue with them nor a plan to go forward. Now the colony’s here and we’re kind of working behind the eight ball to get some things straightened out.”

Current council was not in the loop with regard to the “planning stages” and was unaware the colony had Manitoba Hydro lay a gas line into the development along a municipal road that the RM will now no longer be able to upgrade because of where the line was laid. Council was also unaware – until residents told them about the province’s advertisement taken out in a local newspaper – that that the colony had asked the province for an environmental licence for the lagoon, said Basford.

Council is trying to establish a working relationship with the colony, she said, and is also trying to mitigate some of the residents’ concerns because there has to be a “balance” when it comes to supporting all ratepayers, which includes the colony. She understands there are a “mix of views” among residents, with some people unhappy about their arrival and others in favour because of the benefits colonies can bring, including a good source of tax revenue.

“Once previous council sold the land to the colony, all of this was preordained. The problem is [previous] council didn’t understand what it would mean to have a colony set up in the municipality. Our council didn’t get an opportunity to consider this while previous council did,” she said. “Our job now is not to take sides, but to make sure that things are being done properly, that we’re asking questions and are being assured that they’re doing the right things, that they’ve got good engineered plans [for the lagoon].”

One thing the colony did tell current council is that there are no plans to raise hogs. 

“As far as I know, there will be no hogs. I think there would be an environmental issue having hogs on that land because a provincial drain goes right to Willow Creek,” said Basford. “They’re going to be manufacturing hog barn equipment right off the hop and that will bring employment for people in the area. And they eventually plan on bringing in poultry. They’ve never mentioned any kind of livestock – cattle or hogs – when we asked them.”

According to a 1999 report from Agriculture and Agri-food Canada, the majority of soils in the RM of Armstrong are classed as poorly to very poorly drained and can flood during heavy precipitation.

A hydrotechnical study was completed in 2022 by Trek Geotechnical to provide a drainage assessment of a portion of Willow Creek, north of the colony’s development, as well as the South Malonton Drain (SMD), which borders the development to the south and east and joins Willow Creek, and an unnamed drain that is “backwatered” from the SMD.

The 640-acre colony property is comprised of a mixture of dense forest and open boggy areas with scattered bushes and grasses. Excessive precipitation in 2022 caused overland flooding of the development from Willow Creek in the north and from the SMD in the south and east, states the study, and the engineers recommend upgrades to the South Malonton Drain and the unnamed drain.

East Interlake Watershed District manager Armand Belanger said sometimes the government asks the EIWD to review proposals for potential environmental impacts, but the organization has not, to date, been asked to review the colony’s proposed lagoon.

“We have, however, received a number of calls from people to see whether the proposed lagoon is in a flood zone and whether the lagoon would potentially be at risk from flooding,” said Belanger. “You wouldn’t want to have a lagoon in a flood-prone area.”

When asked if the proposed lagoon will be situated in a flood-prone area, a spokesperson for the provincial department of environment and climate change said the lagoon “has been designed with berm elevations of 248.5 m to meet required flood protection levels specified by Manitoba Transportation and Infrastructure.”

The proposed lagoon will not hold a combination of human manure and animal waste.

“There will be no livestock manure in the proposed lagoon. The wastewater treatment lagoon is designed for domestic sewage and processing wastewater from the abattoir,” he said.

There will be a scheduled discharge of the lagoon into Lake Winnipeg [frequency not provided] and the wastewater will be monitored.

“The treated wastewater will be monitored to ensure it meets Manitoba’s water quality standards before being discharged to the drain that flows into Willow Creek and Lake Winnipeg,” said the spokesperson. “The proposed lagoon is currently undergoing an environmental assessment under the Environment Act. The environmental assessment includes a robust review of all aspects of the proposed lagoon to ensure the lagoon, if licensed, is operated in a manner that protects public health and the environment.”

The Express reached out to the RM of Gimli’s mayor, councillors and CAOs for comment on the proposed lagoon but did not receive a response.

Comments on the proposed lagoon can be sent no later than Nov. 27 to Housseini Coulibaly at the province’s Environmental Approvals Branch. Email: housseini.coulibaly@gov.mb.ca  

Technical reports on the lagoon are available at www.gov.mb.ca/sd/eal/registries