Manitou Beach Lagoon Run-off Sample

On Wednesday July 09, 2008, Fraser Murray, James Alcock and Michael Gaudet drove out to the west side of the Manitou Beach lagoon with the intention of taking a water sample if there was any noticeable run-off. Not only was it noticeable, it was a rushing stream. We were a bit shocked to see how much water was flowing out of the lagoon and down a ravine into the lake. We observed that there was a culvert installed at some point this spring/summer and that the water was rushing through and then onward down hill directly into the lake. We documented the extraction of the water sample by Fraser Murray, life-long resident of Manitou Beach and Director of Manitou Environmental Group Inc. James Alcock, who lives and farms about 10 kms southeast of Manitou Beach, accompanied us as a material witness to the fact.



The sample was sent (packed on ice) by courier to the Disease Control Laboratory of the Provincial Laboratory of the Ministry of Health in Regina the following morning and now we await the results. We are testing for fecal E-Coli and a couple of other pathogens. Now we have our fingers crossed hoping that he results will be negative and that we can all breathe a sigh of relief. In any event, we will certainly make our findings known to the public by publishing the official results (and the analysis of the results) both on this blog and in the Watrous Manitou newspaper.