The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
Flin Flon's Willow Bellisle is studying Natural Resources Management Technology at UCN in The Pas. For her wildlife management class, she was required to write a newspaper article on a topic of her choosing. The following is her article, entitled 'Ross Lake: Garbage or Gold?' *** According to the City of Flin Flon website, Flin Flon is considered to be in the 'middle of nature's magnificence.' Flin Flon was named after the main character, Josiah Flintabattey Flonatin, in The Sunless City, a novel by J. E. Preston Muddock. Flinty explores the bottom of a lake and discovers a city of gold at the bottom. The similarity between The Sunless City and Flin Flon history which provoked the name is the original ore body discovered by David Collins in 1915. The ore body discovered could be seen extending into the depths of Flin Flon Lake, now the tailings pond. Ross Lake is situated in the centre of the city of Flin Flon; do you think there is a city of gold at the bottom of Ross Lake? A billboard on Highway 6 projects Flin Flon as an area with great fishing and pristine lakes. Outside of town, popular fishing lakes such as Schist and Athapapuskow (Athapap) draw guests from all over. Visitors want to enjoy their summers at big lakes with big fish and big smiles just like they saw on the billboard, in a photograph or read online at the city's website. Visitors may be impressed by the pristine environment surrounding our community, but what impression do they get when they come into town and see Ross Lake? Photographs of Flin Flon often depict Ross Lake with a silhouette of the mine or water tower in the back ground. The boardwalk allows residents and visitors to enjoy Ross Lake in full 360 degrees; towered by two-billion-year-old rock cliffs on the west shore with scenic views of the community, it truly should be a treasure. Once equipped with a floating dance hall and a two-storey ski jump, Ross Lake was the place to be. Unfortunately the history of Ross Lake isn't one to be proud of. Many residents know better than to walk the boardwalk on a windy day when the bottom of the lake is stirred up by wave action and it smells of hydrogen sulphide. See 'Smell' on pg. Continued from pg. The smell emitting from Ross Lake is not surprising considering the community disposed of sewage in it for a number of years. The damage to Ross Lake's ecosystem doesn't stop there, for many years it was tradition to haul an old car out onto the ice to see when it would sink. Walking along the boardwalk, it is possible to see massive amounts of garbage, including bicycles and refrigerators, dumped into the lake. Ross Lake is repeatedly exposed to pollution by fresh water run-off through contaminated soil. In 2007, Manitoba Conservation performed a surface soil study in Flin Flon area and found levels of arsenic, cadmium, copper, lead, mercury, selenium and thallium all exceeded guidelines set by Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment (CCME). Due to this heavy soil contamination from the early days of smelting, fresh water runoff carrying contaminants can be a major threat to the lake's health. According to Bhavsar, S.P. et al. (2004), Ross Lake receives treated alkaline effluent overflow through Flin Flon Creek from tailings ponds and historically received large amounts of contaminants through these tailings. Consider for a moment your favourite fishing lake; maybe it's Schist or Athapap, and imagine the devastation if it was treated like Ross. The fish would die and the lake would become unproductive. Would you allow someone to toss their garbage or sink an old car into Schist or Athapap? If any lake other than Ross was treated that way, the entire community would be up in arms. That being said, you should know that Ross Lake is connected to both Schist and Athapap. On the south end of Ross Lake, the outflow stream runs along Channing Drive and drains into Schist Lake in Channing where all the children swim. The south basin of Schist Lake drains into Athapap Lake, which is known Canada-wide for great fishing. A study on the metals in surface water, sediment, fish and blueberry samples collected near Flin Flon and Creighton, conducted in 2009 by Stantec for the Flin Flon Soil Study, indicated Schist Lake as one of the most influenced by contamination both in surface water and sediments. Ross Lake was not included in this study, but Schist is the first affected by Ross' contamination. Although the sizes of Schist and Athapap are massive compared to Ross, all three deserve the same respect. Ross Lake is our backyard and we have not taken care of it. Children have been taught it is okay to treat nature with disrespect and they will do the same. Or, like me, they will be ashamed of the lack of environmental consideration and poor actions of the generation before them. Our city was named after Josiah Flintabattey Flonatin, who discovered a lake with a city of gold at the bottom; instead we have a lake with a garbage dump at the bottom. There is hope for Ross Lake; the cattails (Typha latifolia) growing along the shores are natural water filters. Cattails naturally filter nitrogen, phosphorous and other pollutants from water bodies and can filter runoff into the lake. Encouraging their growth could help to speed up the recovery of the lake. Rainwater that flows over the soil also carries contamination into the lake. Follow-ups to the Flin Flon Soil Study indicate remediation of some soils has been completed around the mine site in highly contaminated areas. Additional soil remediation around Ross Lake is essential to prevent further contamination and promote recovery. We might want people to think we are a clean community, but Ross Lake does not reflect that. Flin Flon may be portrayed as pristine environment on billboards and in photographs but the damage to Ross Lake destroys that image. Our community has become the exception to the rule 'not in my backyard,' which typically states people don't want to see changes or negative things in their community. For example you wouldn't litter in your backyard, but you may just toss the garbage over the fence, out of sight, out of mind. A local example would be when residents of Creighton fought against the proposed storage of toxic waste in their community; although it's going to be stored somewhere, they did not want it in Creighton. Flin Flon isn't affected by the 'not in my backyard' expression as we have let the devastation to Ross Lake continue for many years, right in the middle of our backyard. It is time to stop the destruction of Ross Lake and help it heal to its full potential. Imagine a place where you or your children could go swimming, fishing or picnicking without the fear of health risks or having to drive 15 minutes out of town. Children would be outside interacting with their environment, an important part of their mental development. You wouldn't have to be jealous of the lake-dwelling folk because beautiful Ross Lake would be within walking distance. Ross Lake can be something to be proud of and we can make it a place to enjoy, accessible to all now and in the future. Let's turn our lake of garbage to a lake of gold.
