A complete ban on winter spreading of manure on Manitoba’s farms by 2013 is among the province’s latest regulatory bullets in what it calls its “war on phosphorus.”
The province announced Friday it will implement a number of new rules for livestock waste management, also including a “minimum capacity” requirement for on-farm manure storage.
As well, Conservation Minister Stan Struthers announced a new requirement that all “new” hog producers in Manitoba must register manure management plans with the province.
The province said it’s acting in response to the recommendations of a Clean Environment Commission report in March 2008 on the environmental sustainability of Manitoba’s hog industry, and a report from the province’s auditor general.
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“When we entered office, we recognized that decades of poor planning, abuse and neglect of our lakes, rivers and wetlands had to stop,” Struthers said in a release Friday. “These new rules for industry build on our recently announced regulations for human sewage and funding for wetlands restoration.”
In the same announcement Friday, the province said it would provide University of Manitoba scientists with a $300,000 grant to study the relationship between phosphorus buildup in the soil and how it later gets into Manitoba’s waterways.
Over-applying phosphorus to the land, whether from manure, fertilizer or municipal biosolids, increases the risk that the phosphorus will make its way into rivers and lakes, where it contributes to algal blooms, Water Stewardship Minister Christine Melnick said in the province’s release.
“This fulfills the CEC’s recommendation the province undertake further studies to examine the impact of nutrient loading in our lakes and rivers,” Melnick said.
Since the CEC report, the province has put a permanent ban on expansion of hog farming in areas near Lake Winnipeg and the Red River, introduced new buffer zones to protect water from phosphorus application, and offered farmers incentives to protect wetlands and riparian areas.
Provincewide, the government also introduced Canada’s first ban on phosphates in dish detergent, and on “cosmetic” use of fertilizers containing phosphorus. It also banned any new installations of sewage ejectors and septic fields in provincial parks and “sensitive areas.”
