Introduction
In 2007, a stakeholder led management planning process was initiated to address the regional groundwater resources in southeast Manitoba. The planning area includes lands north from the international border to Lake Winnipeg and the Winnipeg River, and east from the Red River to a boundary approximately defined by a line from Sprague to East Braintree.
The process to complete a Southeast Regional Groundwater Management Plan (SRGMP) will be conducted by a Groundwater Management Planning Group comprised of regional area agency representatives participating as stakeholders. The Group also includes Provincial and Federal professionals participating as “science members” and contributing relevant groundwater resources information to the planning process. Planning and coordination assistance is provided by Manitoba Water Stewardship’s Basin and Aquifer Planning Section. The process is expected to take up to three years to complete.
The final outcome of the process will be a Management Plan that identifies management issues related to the groundwater resource, management actions and strategies to address those issues and a process for plan implementation that will guide the sustainable development of these resources for the next 10+ years.
The Planning Group completed a Draft Groundwater Management Plan in December 2009 and received public comments via written submissions and from three Open Houses held in January 2010. In early 2010, the Planning Group reviewed and discussed the submissions, and comments received at the Open Houses, and agreed to incorporate some of these into the Plan. It is expected that the revised Plan will be presented to the Planning Group for final review in mid-March, followed by submission to the Minister of Water Stewardship in April 2010.
