City council is seeking public input on a recently commissioned report that examines ways to improve the water quality of Crescent Lake, Coun. Brent Froese says.

Portage la Prairie City Councillor Brent Froese. (file photo)

The report prepared by North/South consultants examines a lot of the challenges facing the lake, in terms of cleanliness and water quality, and outlines a number of possible solutions. Ultimately, the report suggests options are limited as the water quality of the lake is largely tied to that of the Assiniboine River.

Froese says there are many options in the report that can be pursued. Those range from doing virtually nothing and accepting Crescent Lake as more of a marshland, to spending on technical intervention methods such as dredging, pumping or aerating. First, however, Froese says a desired outcome needs to be determined by council and the community.

"Until we're quite clear what the outcome is that we want, we're kind of limited to what we do now, which is spraying chemicals to keep the weeds down... a very cosmetic thing to do," Froese says. "Otherwise, the options we look at are either ineffective or very expensive, and may not give us the outcome we're looking for."

"So we need to determine what it is we want as an outcome before we spend any more money on estimates or technical engineering solutions."

Froese says the report suggests starting community consultations that bring in a broader range of stakeholders over a longer period of time to determine exactly what it is everyone wants to get out of the lake. He warns, however, that many of the options that would really change the character of the lake are too expensive.

"They looked at a variety of options to improve water quality, and saw challenges with all those options," Froese explains. "The likelihood of ending up with a clean body of water suitable for swimming and other recreation is not likely to happen as long as we're pumping more river water into it."

Froese adds, there is likely going to be many differing opinions on what the outcome should be, but possible to achieve some of them at the same time.

"For example, part of the lake could be given over to a more marshland character, and part of it could be dredged," Coun. Froese says. "But we need to come to an agreement, or consensus, on what the best outcome could be for all of us first."

"But any technical intervention, such as dredging, pumping or aerating, is likely to be expensive and in some ways ineffective."

The report is posted on the city's website.