You may have noticed a darker emerald tone to Crescent Lake in Portage la Prairie this summer. City councillor Melissa Draycott says there's a reason for that.

Melissa Draycott"Our gem is looking a little bit greener this season. And that is just in regard to the province of Manitoba that did receive a couple of public complaints, I believe, regarding the use of our spraying herbicide that would be used to control weeds in the lake. The Province did look at the complaints and they did finally issue a permit for the City of Portage la Prairie to use our weed control."

Draycott notes the province's permit came a little late.

"However, due to the length of time that it took the Province to get back to us to issue that permit, we went beyond the stage where it would be effective to spray the weeds at this point in time. And so the decision was made that this summer we would not be spraying weeds in Crescent Lake. So we do have an accumulation of weeds growing there. You can see it's a little bit greener than what it normally is."

She adds the herbicide is presumably safe and is no cause for concern, seeing as the province did issue the permit for the city to continue. Draycott says things should be back to normal next summer.