A longtime resident, living near the Roseau River, says what he is witnessing this spring is unlike anything he has ever seen before.
Eighty-three-year-old Brian Grier says the water level along the Roseau River is the lowest he has ever seen it in spring. And for Grier, he has more than seven decades of springs to compare it to. Aside from spending eight years in Alberta, Grier has lived his entire life in the area. Grier is a Councillor for the Municipality of Emerson-Franklin. He also sits on the Seine Rat Roseau Watershed District board.
Grier says the water level is so low right now that rocks are showing, something he says is very unusual for spring.
"We're used to having the river at the top of its banks and it's just not that way," he explains. "I would say we are four to five feet below what normal would be."
According to Grier, this is concerning for many reasons. First of all, he says it impacts fish living in the river. He notes officials in the United States will start putting sturgeon back into the Roseau River, however, if they cannot make it down the river, they will die.
Grier says there is also the concern that this has on farming operations. He notes there are potato farmers that use the Roseau River for irrigating their crops, and unless things change, there will not be any water to assist with that this summer. Grier says some livestock farmers also use the Roseau to provide water for their cattle.
Grier says this could also impact recreation opportunities along the Roseau. He notes a lot of people use the waterway from Stuartburn to Roseau River for tubing, rafting, canoeing, and kayaking.
"Unless we get a decent rainfall, that won't happen this year," he adds.
Grier says he remembers, as a kid, constantly swimming in the Roseau in July and August. He says the river level right now is so low that even if it was warm enough to swim, he would not attempt to.
There is also the historic Senkiw suspension bridge, which attracts a lot of tourists each year. Grier says that too could be impacted by low water levels. He notes if the tourists have one less reason to come visit the area, this hurts nearby gas stations and restaurants too.
Grier says the concern is that this could be a year of drought for the area. And, he says because the Roseau flows into the Red River, if the water level is lower in the Roseau, it will also be lower in the Red. Further to that, Grier says U.S. officials are also concerned about Roseau River water levels south of the border.
Having lived in the area for more than 70 years, Grier understands how quickly the situation can change. He notes if they received two or three rain events that each dropped about two inches of rain, that would make a big difference.
According to Grier, the low river levels are something they started to notice already in the fall. He says that even though they had some nice rains in the fall, it was not enough to sustain water levels through winter. And, with not enough snow over winter, Grier says the situation has not had a chance to improve.
Meanwhile, according to a provincial spokesperson, spring runoff in southern Manitoba basins has been below normal, resulting in river levels across southeastern Manitoba, including the Red, Rat, and Roseau Rivers, tracking below average for this time of year. Our province says that at present, most water supply reservoirs are near historic average levels, and there are currently no concerns related to flooding or unusually low water levels.