Lake Winnipeg Basin Initiative Science Program

The science program strives to understand the gaps related to ecology and nutrient cycling and the sources and transport mechanisms for nutrients to develop nutrient objectives for the lake and performance indicators to assess the health of the lake and watershed. 

The LWBI science plan encompasses six key deliverables:

1. Characterize the physical, chemical and biological nature of Lake Winnipeg to understand the its nutrient enrichment balance and how more large blue/green algal blooms impact the fishery.

2. Establish watershed and in-lake nutrient budgets.  More monitoring sites will be added in the basin and will be integrated, where appropriate, with existing water quantity stations. 

3. Assess and manage non-point source contributions of nutrients in the watershed which ultimately flow to the lake.  Review the effectiveness of agricultural Beneficial Management Practices (BMPs).

4. Assess the economic value of water, and how effective regulatory instruments and social policies are in managing nutrient inputs on a watershed scale.

5. Develop a single window information portal to share data with key partners and allow appropriate data sharing with other networks.  The portal will be an interactive scientific gateway for compiling, reviewing and visualizing existing knowledge.  It will enhance the availability of data, information and tools.  Land and water models from data collected across the basin will be integrated.

6. Provide a scientific reason to establish nutrient objectives for Lake Winnipeg and its major tributaries.  This would be based on the results of research and monitoring. The ecological health of Lake Winnipeg and its water shed would be assessed through the development of performance indicators.

Get details on the investments being made in science for Lake Winnipeg.