Devils Lake outlet not operating

Provincial government map detailing the Devils Lake diversion.

DEVILS LAKE, N.D. - Low flows in the Sheyenne River are preventing operation of the Devils Lake water outlet.

Assistant State Engineer Todd Sando says the floodwater diversion project has not run since May 5.

In the few weeks it did run, he says it moved only a small amount of water off Devils Lake.

Still, Sando says the dry conditions are a positive development because the lake isn't rising. He says the lake is probably at its lowest level for this time of year since 1993.

The $28-million outlet designed to divert floodwaters from Devils Lake into the Sheyenne operated little more than a month last year, lowering the level of the bloated 55,000-hectare lake by perhaps a couple of centimetres.

The outlet is hampered by low flows in the Sheyenne because it creates water quality issues.

The Manitoba government has been fighting North Dakota for years over the outlet.

Manitoba fears water from the lake will flow through the Sheyenne River into the Red River, then north into Lake Winnipeg, contaminating water north of the border with foreign species.

The province was in court in April, when North Dakota began operating it and refused to stop.

The court action was taken by the Province of Manitoba, People to Save the Sheyenne River, the Peterson Coulee Outlet Association and the National Wildlife Federation. The outlet started operating at a trickle on April 21, despite an earlier Supreme Court ruling prohibiting operation before May 1.

According to provincial government news release, there are four types of harmful, blue-green algae and at least two parasite species found in Devils Lake that have not been found in Lake Winnipeg.