Morden residents experienced the impact of phosphorus on their drinking water this past fall. Phosphorus is one of the main nutrients that promotes algae blooms in lakes, preventing people from swimming and impacting drinking quality.

However, the Lake Winnipeg Foundation has been working toward increasing its Community-Based Monitoring Network to better understand algae blooms and manage them.

"Building a network of citizen scientists," said the Foundation's Executive Director Alexis Kanu.

This initiative is in partnership with conservation districts throughout Manitoba. These districts are trying to implement an increasing number water stewardship projects in the Province.

Kanu said this partnership hopes to collect as much phosphorus data as they can.

"We start to see them (algae blooms) toward the end of July into August. The Lake gets that green colour, the water can get thick and soupy. No one wants to go in it, and no one wants to drink it," said Kanu. "Ultimately that is caused by phosphorus."

According to Kanu 2017 was the second year of field tests for this initiative, but the first for the Pembina Valley. Last year their reports showed 11 different sites were tested with 138 samples being collected. The highest phosphorus export in the Pembina Valley region tested last year was the Pembina River Near Windygates which recorded 1.388kg/ha/y.

The report says this result is relatively high for the Pembina Valley Conservation District region.

"We are also looking to recruit more citizen scientists," said Kanu. "We want more folks who care about water, and want an opportunity to take part in this network to get in touch with us."

Contact the Foundation's office at 204-956-0436 or visit their website to learn more.

The topic is especially fitting this week as World Water Day was celebrated Thursday.

"We tend to not think about it because it's ever-present in our lives, but we can't get through a day without using water in so many different ways," said Kanu when asked about the importance of water. "Water just touches our lives in so many ways.