It was announced last week the Manitoba government is investing $19.7 million to rehabilitate Oak Lake Dam, a critical piece of water infrastructure to the RM of Sifton.
The multi-year rehabilitation project is cost-shared with the Government of Canada under the Investing in Canada Infrastructure Program (ICIP). It will include the reconstruction of the dam spillway and the stabilization and protection of its embankments.
In August of 2021 the federal and provincial governments had committed $2.75 million to rebuild the Oak Lake West Dike and rehabilitate or replace the existing concrete control structure in order to improve drought proofing of the lake and to reduce the risk of damage to the diking system during flood events.
“This is huge because we’ve been working at getting this funding for close to 15 years and it finally looks like we are going to get something” said Reeve Cyril Druwe at the time. “The dam is in dire straits. It had a big bow in it and it’s crumbling a bit and if we lose that dam, we’d lose all the water in Oak Lake. There’s a lot of recreation and spin offs from the lake so it’s huge for the RM of Sifton.”
The dam is located about 3 km southwest of the beach area. From the dam there is a dike that goes north to the beach. An additional dike goes northwest on the west of side of the dam.
"This project to rehabilitate the dam has been a long time in the making," shares Councillor Scott Phillips. "Especially after the 2011 and 2014 floods, there was a lot of damage done to the dam."
In the late '80s an extensive amount of sand built up against the dam with the dry years and the wind and was not allowed to be cleaned out properly. Phillips says this helped support the dam in a way, but it also did some damage to it. Then in 2011 and 2014 the heavy rains and then ice pressure compromised the dam resulting in a bow in the structure.
"It's not as a structurally strong as it should be, but that's where some of that sand maybe helped save it a bit," says Phillips. "But there are a lot of fears that if the dam went it would just cripple the lake. The water wouldn't be all gone, but it would let so much water go so fast and flood so many acres. And then of course Oak Lake would never be Oak Lake again until the dam came back."
This be devastating for the area in so many ways.
"And so, we're just glad that it's getting done," he adds. "It serves the whole region. It serves the whole Pipestone Creek, the Plum Creek, the Plum Lakes, all the way to Souris. There are a lot of communities that benefit from the dam as well as it helps recharge the aquifer, which goes well past the Oak Lake-Sifton region. So, it's a huge win for the area!"
Construction is expected to take approximately two years, with procurement of materials and other preparations are already in progress stated the provincial government last week. In anticipation of this larger rehabilitation effort, the province completed upgrades to five kilometers of the east access road in fall 2024.
Phillips says they've been waiting quite a number of years as there have been many delays on the project. He notes the province has been working out the details of the design and is eager to see the construction get started.
"Yeah, the amount of red tape they've used on this project, they could have built the dam out of the red tape, but we'll leave it at that," he adds.
"But the design looks really good. I don't think it's changed since we've last met. Although, the one we request we've had, and a lot of ratepayers as well, is to add another 6 inches of foot to the dam to keep more water in. They seem to be reluctant to do that. It would have been nice if they could have added that extra height to it."
Once complete, the upgraded dam is expected to remain safely operational for at least another 50 years.
"It's just a big regional project. It's not just the Oak Lake Dam. It serves the aquifer, which is thousands and thousands of people from AG to recreation to commercial to residential. It's a huge project for the region," adds Phillips.