The Red River Basin Commission continues to work toward the goal of better management of water resources in the Red River Valley.

For a number of years, the commission focused its efforts on ways to mitigate floods along the Red River, especially in years following the 1997 flood of the century which had a major impact on communities up and down the basin in Manitoba, North Dakota, Minnesota and South Dakota.

While floods remain on the RRBC's radar, a lot of the organization's focus has shifted to a new priority - the reduction of nutrient levels in our water systems. High levels of phosphorus and nitrogen over a sustained period of time have contributed to the reduction of water quality on Lake Winnipeg. The excess amount of phosphorus and nitrogen flowing into the lake contributes to increasingly large, frequent, and potentially toxic, algal blooms. Algal blooms can kill animals that use the water and affect human health.

While phosphorus and nitrogen are key nutrients for plant growth in lakes and rivers, that plant growth can become excessive when phosphorus and nitrogen levels in water become too high. When the excess plant material eventually dies, it decays and reduces the amount of oxygen available for fish and other aquatic animals.

The Basin Commission has been putting in a huge effort by working with provincial and state governments and local municipal officials to improve the situation in the basin.

"It's about managing our lagoon systems and our potable water systems better," said Steve Strang, Basin Commission manager. "It's not about taking new steps, it's about taking little steps and then eventually taking larger ones and hopefully at the end we're running to the finish line where we can all say 'success.'

The Basin Commission has set a goal of holding back as much as 20 per cent of the water that flows along the Red River through a variety of water retention systems in an effort to to mitigate flooding.

Meanwhile, Strang says he's encouraged by the commitment that has been shown by the Commission's American partners in helping to clean up our rivers and lakes. He says the Americans understand that Lake Winnipeg is not just a Manitoba issue.

Strang adds there are no hard and fast timelines toward reaching these goals.

"We don't want to see that pressure. What we want to see is that constant moving forward where we're creating constant success. In the short time that I've been here, I seen that already."