HECLA -- Halli Jonasson believes the Hecla causeway built in the early 1970s might be responsible for many of the problems now plaguing Lake Winnipeg.

Jonasson said the causeway -- which virtually serves as a dam on one of only three areas where water moves between the lake's north and south basins -- could be behind everything from lake-front erosion in the southern basin to an increase in algae.

Jonasson said cutting off most of the free flow of water on the west side of the upper south basin has changed the way the currents flow throughout the south basin, from Netley Marsh to Hecla Island.

He believes that change in currents for the last three decades has caused shoreline to wash away, instead of being built up with sand, and caused algae to accumulate in the trapped water.

"Hecla is the killer groyne," said Jonasson, who has trapped and fished during his decades around the lake.

"A groyne is when you put something on the shoreline and the water rushes around it. By putting the causeway in, the province made Hecla a groyne and it is 18 miles long.

"We're suffering from Riverton to Selkirk because of it."

Jonasson's theory has caught the attention of scientists studying the plight of Manitoba's largest lake.

Al Kristofferson, managing director of the Lake Winnipeg Research Consortium, which operates the research ship Namao, said scientists will discuss if they can begin researching Jonasson's contentions as early as this winter.

"I'm sure it has affected the flow, but we have no data," Kristofferson said.

"Once the water comes from the south end, the only place it can go is through Hecla and Black Island and a very narrow area. It used to have the third area, the Grassy Narrows, but now the causeway is basically a dam.

"I think (Jonasson) has his head screwed on straight and has a lot of good information."

A sign at the west end of the causeway said it was built in 1971 to replace the ferry and is 3.2 kilometres long with a 70-metre bridge. Under the bridge is the only spot where water flows between the basins of the lake.

"...This much water means nothing," Jonasson said.

Jonasson said the causeway, and the diking of the nearby Grassy Narrows marsh, has also reduced the number of fish, waterfowl, and muskrat in the area.

Ben Kjartanson, 66, a third-generation fisherman on Hecla, said he knows the causeway has had a great effect on the current on the east side of Hecla.

"There is more current in this area than before," Kjartanson said. "There was always a current, but not like now... they made a big mistake by not having one big bridge over one of the narrows to let water rush through."

Provincial Liberal Leader Jon Gerrard -- who is holding a public forum on the causeway issue today at 10 a.m. in Riverton's Fellowship Circle -- said the government has to seriously look at the problem.

"There are clearly some issues that need to be addressed," Gerrard said. "There's very little flow of water in that channel, which used to carry a third of the water."

A few kilometres south of Hecla, Lorraine Sigvaldason, who lives just north of the marina at Hnausa, said erosion there worsened after the causeway and Manitoba Hydro's dam on the north end of the lake were built.

Sigvaldason purchased her lakefront property in 1976 and witnessed it being eaten away by the lake until she was forced to begin putting boulders at the water's edge in 1996. She has since spent $30,000 putting in 150 truckloads of boulders.

"I would say I lost 40 feet before I put up the rocks," she said.

Sigvaldason is critical of the building of both the causeway and the Manitoba Hydro dam.

"We cannot fool around with nature without really knowing what we're doing," she said.

Dwight Williamson, of the province's Water Stewardship department, said more research has to be done to see if the causeway has impacted negatively on the lake.

"If it has an undesirable effect, we'll look at every way of changing that or minimizing it," Williamson said.

Williamson said the province will examine the original engineering studies to see if it was expected to impede the flow of water between the north and south basins of the lake.

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/local/story/4043753p-4651729c.html

Fish Lake Manitoba Narrows

http://www.sellyourmanitobacottage.com

http://www.fishlakemanitobanarrows.com