The Province of Manitoba has released a section of Niverville's old lagoon for the development of the wetlands project saying there are no longer any environmental concerns.

Niverville Mayor Myron Dyck says they have been dealing with the decommissioning project of the lagoon for almost 10 years. He says when most old lagoons are decommissioned the sludge is hauled to a landfill site but they tried something new in Niverville.

“We are part of a pilot project through the use of phytoremediation which is the planting of things like cat tails and sewer grass to remove potential heavy solids from the earth, things like magnesium and things like that.”

Dyck says they are working with Ducks Unlimited, Native Plant Solutions and the University of Manitoba to create a wetlands area. He says Master and Doctorate students from the University of Manitoba performed studies on the released land and submitted their findings to the Province to prove that the process of decommissioning is working.

Dyck notes that there is still a good portion of the old lagoon that has yet to be released for use but that is in the process. He adds they can now move forward with bringing the piece of land into Hespler Park.

“We have had plans to use it for a wetlands project and for pedestrian pathways and things like that. We have an interpretive centre that is currently under construction. It is adjacent to our Hespler Park, we are now going to bring it into our Hespler Park to be able to allow our citizens and visitors to look at what the wetlands are and create some interpretive signage and trail ways.”

Dyck says Niverville has spent the money and time on this decommissioning project and it's success is a victory in more then one way.

“while it enables our residents and visitors to come and utilize this space in the future, it is also showing that there is a different way of remediation for lagoons other then simply hauling away sludge to a landfill. It can actually be returned to the land and used for everyone's enjoyment.”'

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