Muriel Lake Basin Management Society

Your MLMBS Board has been working hard on your behalf! WE have the following updates for you.

Water Conversations with the Alberta Government
The Government of Alberta is holding several “Water Conversations” over the next month. There will be one held in the Beaver River watershed at Willow Prairie Hall (La Corey, north of Bonnyville) on Feb. 28 at 5:30 pm. The purpose of the sessions is to gather input on various water-related issues of interest to Albertans in order to guide policy development; more information can be found in the attached poster. We would strongly encourage our members to attend this important meeting and let the Government of Alberta know how important Muriel Lake’s water issues are to the public. Water Conversations Alberta Government Poster
Check out the Alberta Government Website which describes the purpose of these meetings: Alberta Government Water Conversations

January 2013 MLBMS Board Meeting Minutes
Minutes, January 10, 2013

Article about Muriel Lake in Alberta Sportsman Magazine!
We would like to sincerely thank Duane Radford for writing a great article about Muriel Lake for the Alberta Sportsman Magazine
Duane Radford, Muriel Lake Debacle, Alberta Outdoorsman January 2013

Grant Application for an Aerial Survey of Muriel Lake’s Drainage BAsin
We have made a grant application to the Land Stewardship Center for funding for an aerial survey of Muriel Lake’s drainage basin with Jordan Walker. We would sincerely like to thank Harry Kees (BRWA and LICA) for all of his assistance with the application.
BRWA letter of support MLBMS 2013[1]
Grant Application – Aerial Project for Muriel Lake

Preparing to Identify Surface Water Blockages in the Spring of 2013
The MLBMS is preparing to identify blockages to surface water flow into the lake this spring. We will be using Alberta Environment and Sustainable Resource Development’s mapping program to identify GPS locations where the blockages are found. Check out this great mapping tool – Alberta Government Mapping Program A big thanks to Corey Neufeld for all his work on this project!

First draft of our Charitable Status Application
We have been working hard on our Charitable Status Application and now completed the first draft of our Charitable Status Application. After getting input at our February Board Meeting we will be taking steps to get this Application finalized!

Beaver River Watershed’s Winter 2013 Newsletter
We have attached the Beaver River Watershed’s 2013 newsletter for your information
BRWA Newsletter-Winter Edition-2013

Has anyone been out to Muriel Lake lately? We would love to see some photos of the lake this winter! Please send them to us at savemuriellake@gmail.com

News coverage
The MLBMS would like to thank Clayton Brown for the great news coverage just before the 2012 AGM in July. Watch the news clip here and please share it with your friends and neighbors at the lake: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CQDwdALt49A

Our email response sent December 15, 2012 from MLMBS President to Minister McQueen requesting something be done for Muriel Lake:

Dear Minister McQueen,

It is not my intent to wage a paper war, but I feel I must respond to your email of December 13th and your letter dated November 22, 2012.

As a matter of information we have yet to receive your letter of November 22nd that you state had been mailed. Its now in excess of three weeks since the date of the letter and its still not here.

We are encouraged that you will be engaging Albertans on water quantity and quality issues on Provincial lakes that are experiencing fish kill and other problems during summer and winter months. What discourages us however is the fact that Muriel Lake is being placed under this same umbrella. Muriel Lake is in far greater stressed condition that any of the other lakes that have been reported on in the media in the past. As such it requires immediate attention and should be looked at in isolation.

Added to the low water level of the lake (likely less that 15 ft in its deepest part) is the fact that there are no longer any sport fish left in the lake. Recolonization of these fish is therefore impossible if there are no adult fish left to propagate. Restocking in its current state is certainly not an option. The longer we go without increased water level and fish the less the lake becomes a desirable place to visit and enjoy. We therefore must act quickly.

We suggest that the Province may in fact be part of the problem in its handling of all the activity that is going on in the drainage basin. The lake is surrounded by major high grade roadways that have few culverts installed to allow proper surface water flow. As such the lake is essentially encircled by “dams”. Many side roads to industrial sites may also be a problem. This is why we stand by our position that a full study is required to see if these issues are in fact a problem and what can be done to start getting water back into the lake. Other scientists have come to the same conclusion that land use changes may be a problem and recommend that this should be investigated.

It would appear to us that an independent study would be in the Province’s best interest to prove what your own scientist have been saying.

We appreciate that the winter groundwater study is proceeding this year as well as the monitoring of known wells in the basin to see if groundwater might be leaking through the bottom of the lake. We would however like to see the process expanded to drill other monitoring wells around the lake, especially on the south side.

In conclusion we will continue to press for a full independent arms length study to determine why Muriel Lake does not recover during years of higher than normal precipitation. We are approaching the forty year timeframe since it reached its highest level which in itself would suggest something serious is wrong in the drainage basin.

Hello Again Everyone!
We appologize for the delay in getting an update to you. The MLBMS has been busy working on your behalf. Here are some of the things we have been up to:

Minutes
Minutes, AGM July 8, 2012
Minutes, August 26, 2012
Minutes, September 23, 2012
Minutes, October 28, 2012
Minutes, November 21, 2012

Correspondence with Minster McQueen
July 27, 2012 – letter to Richard Charboylo in response to AGM
Ltr to minister mcqueen – Sept 15, 2012
Ltr to minister mcqueen – Oct 2, 2012
Response from Minister McQueen – November 22, 2012

Advocate for Muriel Lake
We are always asked, “but what can I do for Muriel Lake?” Here is an example of a letter you could send: Muiel Lake Tax Letter_2012

Have you read about Muriel Lake in the News Lately?!
Make sure to send us a copy of any newsarticles you read so we can post it on our site!
Muriel Lake in the Bonnyville Nouvelle!
Check out these comments about Muriel Lake on the Outdoorsmen Forum

Please few below our requests to Bonavista and CNRL from September 6, 2012:
Ltr to Bonafista – Sept 6, 2012
Ltr to CNRL – Sept, 6, 2012

We have not recieved a response to date.

Please read the letter we sent to Minister McQueen on September 15, 2012:
Ltr to minister mcqueen – Sept 15, 2012

This great powerpoint sure gives us a lot to think about! Keep the information coming!

Oil & Gas Interruption in the Muriel Lake Water Basin

A huge thank you to the concerned Muriel Laker who shared this with us.

Click on the photo below to view the video:

Muriel Lake on CTV News!

Awesome job Lyall Kortzman and all of the other Muriel Lake residents that participated in the making of this video. This is great coverage for Muriel Lake!

Click on the links below to see the powerpoint presentations that were presented at our AGM by the Alberta Government:

Alberta Govt Presentation at 2012 AGM – Muriel Lake Hydology July 2012 update

Alberta Govt presentation at 2012 AGM – MLBMS.groundwater.pres.Welsh_R2

Alberta Govt Presentation at 2012 AGM – Water Management Issues.Presentation

The MLBMS would like to extend a thank you to Richard Charboyla for sharing these presentations with us.

On behalf of the MLBMS we would like to thank all of our members who attended the AGM on July 8th at the Centennial Center! We had a great turnout – we estimate there were over 100 of our members in attendance!

Prior to the beginning of the meeting, Cheryl Schewe collected updated email addresses from the membership and Kristy Myshaniuk passed out SAVE MURIEL LAKE bumperstickers while the rest of the Board of Directors greeted incoming members.

Lyall Kortzman, the president of the MLBMS chaired the meeting. See the following draft of the AGM minutes. This draft is subject to review by the Board, and is only provided at this time as a brief summary of the meeting:
Minutes, AGM July 8, 2012

Following the AGM, Richard Charboylo (Acting Regional Manager for Northern Region), Ernst Kerkhoven (Hydrologist), Brent Welsh (groundwater/hydrologist), and Abi Saidomar (Water Resource Manager) of the Alberta Government presented the Alberta Government’s data and position on Muriel Lake’s water problems. The members in attendance were given the opportunity to ask questions to the Alberta Government representatives as they heard data and information on potential climate trends, groundwater information, and surface disruptions as well as possible things that could be done to encourage or fill Muriel Lake. The powerpoint presentations have been requested and we hope they will be provided soon.

As a very, very brief summary, we heard that the Alberta Government is of the opinion that:
(1) A lake water balance equation showing basic water in versus water out can explain the lake water decline at Muriel Lake. By their calculations a 4 meter drop was expected over 30 years an this is what happened.
(2) The Alberta government is not motivated to support another study of Muriel Lake because they are of the position that the lake water decrease is 90% a result of climate (percipitation, evaporation, run off, and a little surface water drainage). The Government is not motived to find out whether climate is 90% to blame, 95% to blame, or 97% to blame…
(3) Muriel Lake’s water level is much lower than it has ever been. Although the lowest level recorded prior to this was estimated to be 5-7 years before 1949.
(4) Any increase in Muriel Lake will largely depend on future percipitation and temperatures.
(5) Muriel Lake is healty in the winter (means the lake holds water), and unhealthy in the summer which suggests that the loss of water of Muriel Lake is due to evaporation. These trends are natural.
(6) There are some infrastructural problems: Reita Lake cannot flow into Muriel Lake, there are few active Beaver Dams and those dams are not holding back that much water so it is not worth it to remove them.
(7) Potentially moving water by pipeline from the North Saskatchewan River into Muriel lake by pipeline would be too costly and ineffective. The government is not in the business of moving water this way any more. The current political environment is such that “we are not going to go around correcting mother nature.”

The MLBMS disagrees with many of these conclusions and has suggested that further information is needed. The Board of Directors is currently in the process of drafting a response letter to the Government and is patiently awaiting the govenrment’s powerpoint presentations so we can go over the information provided in more detail.

The following are photos from the AGM and government presentation:

There were many inspiring and insightful questions put to the Alberta Government representatives by our membership. To mention a few:
(a) Even though the government may feel an action will only increase the water level of Muriel Lake a little, this little bit of water is meaningful to the people of Muriel Lake.
(b) The vast majority of the data presented by the Alberta Government was based on regional data (for a very large portion of the province) and little date specific to Muriel Lake was presented. Geographically percise data is needed to draw conclusions specific to Muriel Lake.
(c) One way to help increase the water level of Muriel Lake is to focus on all the little solutions (moving a beaver dam, cleaning a culvert, etc) to ensure all surface water gets back to the lake.
(d) Questions over the data presented about Reita Lake, as many members remember drainage differently than what was presented.

This is not meant to be a thorough summary of the information presented, conclusions arrived at, or the questions presented by the membership. These thoughts were put together from one of our members notes of the meeting.

We would again like to thank all of our membership for the support and encouragement. The MLBMS Board of Directors will continue working hard on your behalf. We would also like to welcome new members to the Board – Jan Ramful and Keith Justik-Ackerman!

We hope to catch up on correspondence over the next little while and get right back into the swing of things with our regular monthly meetings.