UPDATED: Algae forces closure of popular Minnedosa water park

A popular water park was temporarily closed at Minnedosa Lake due to algae on the water, marking a first for the park since it opened in 2019.

Splish Splash Water Park, a collection of inflatable play structures on the water next to Minnedosa Beach, was taking it day by day after closing on Thursday. On Friday afternoon, the park was still closed and the owners were waiting for algae to die off, co-owner Connor Champagne told the Sun.

“The lake got pretty bad with the way the wind was blowing towards us,” said Champagne. “So we’re actually closed right now and we’re waiting for the water to get a little bit better before we open back up.”

The park re-opened on Saturday morning. Splish Splash wrote on social media that zero toxins had been discovered as a result of water testing, and that the algae was almost gone.

Minnedosa Lake is one of a handful of water bodies in the province that were subject to blue-green algae advisories for the August long weekend.

The move came after the Town of Minnedosa put out a warning last week to avoid contact with the water. The province tested the water on Monday and later issued its advisory.

People are warned to avoid contact with the water if they see large amounts of green scum. The province noted that blue-green algae had been found in Minnedosa Lake in the past.

The problem this week comes from a combination of factors, Friends of Lake Minnedosa member Barry McPhail told the Sun.

The Little Saskatchewan River is flowing slower because of a dry spell in the region, he said, and there’s an issue with infrastructure.

“The spillway is causing some grief too, because the spillway is old and the water is leaking through,” said McPhail. “The lower part of the spillway, it’s this nice, clean water from down in the bottom of the lake (leaking through), but the top, where it’s just a skim of algae, is trapped in the lake. So, I think that’s our issue.”

Improvements to the spillway would help prevent this in the future, he said, if it would push the surface of the water to flush. In the short term, however, a flash of rain is what’s needed to get the lake back up and running.

Being part of a river system with a constant supply of flowing water, Minnedosa Lake doesn’t commonly deal with algae problems like this year, McPhail said.

Lake algae is well known to Westman, however, prompting the introduction of new technology in recent years.

In the past decade, several lakes have installed aeration systems to fight algae and improve water quality.

Pelican Lake led the charge roughly 10 years ago, dramatically improving the ecosystem of the lake, Rural Municipality of Prairie Lakes Reeve Darren Seymour told the Sun last month. Since installing the equipment, fish “die-offs” have been slashed, he said.

Killarney Lake followed suit in 2018 and has experienced the same improvements to water quality, Betty Sawatzky of the local lake committee said Friday. Beaches at Killarney Lake used to be closed at the end of June, but not anymore, she said.

Similarly, Shoal Lake joined the trend and installed a system in the past year, and Oak Lake is currently in the process of installing its own by the end of the summer.

Friends of Lake Minnedosa has considered the technology before, said McPhail, but the problem is just not common enough like it is with other lakes. If algae keeps reappearing, the group may have to look at the technology again, he said.

Co-owning a business that relies on Minnedosa Lake, Champagne said he welcomes anything that improves water quality. Champagne said the recent program undertaken by Friends of Lake Minnedosa and the town to regularly cut weeds from the lake has been beneficial, adding the community and the town have been very successful in improving Lake Minnedosa.

He pointed out the lake is important for the whole community, saying he noticed immediately last week that there were a lot fewer people in town after the algae advisories had gone out.

The public should check the Facebook page “Splish Splash Minnedosa” for updates to find out when the water park is closed and open, he said.

» cmcdowell@brandonsun.com