Bikes, shopping carts and oil drums were among the trash pulled out of Winnipeg's Seine River
CBC
They pulled 15 tires, 13 shopping carts and five bikes out of Winnipeg's Seine River.
That was just some of the trash a team from an environmental non-profit removed from the river as part of their annual summer cleanup. There was also a suitcase so heavy and full of water it tipped their canoe, three knives and children's toys. Plus, oil drums, a rollerblade, and an old projector.
Abby Rodrigue, co-ordinator of the Save Our Seine summer river keeper team, said the crew found enough garbage in the water to fill 107 trash bags from the beginning of June to this week, when they wrapped up for the season.
Rodrigue said she worries the river "would become a complete dump" without those efforts.
"I don't think there would be much of a river left, honestly, without someone caring for it every year," she said.
"I worked on the team last year and we pulled out so much — and to see a lot of it back again, or just more stuff, is saddening."
Monique Ellison, lead hand on this summer's river keeper team, said the crew has found plenty of what appears to be recently dumped garbage, like water bottles, beer cans and coffee cups.
But they suspect much of what they find is leftover from decades ago when the river was used "like a dumping ground."
"Every year we're trying to clean up more and more and more, but stuff just keeps resurfacing as the water levels change," Ellison said, adding garbage is visible now because of lower water levels.
Shawn Clark, a professor serving as head of the University of Manitoba's civil engineering department, said those lower water levels are largely due to the relatively dry summer weather this year.
Clark, who's an expert on understanding river flow, said there are many reasons why it's important to remove garbage from a body of water like the Seine River.
For example, obstacles in the water can raise the river level and potentially create a flooding risk for nearby areas. In addition, they can make it difficult or even dangerous for people to navigate the water in a kayak or canoe, he said.
Obstructions can also cause swirling and accelerated water flows that lead to erosion and kick up sediment from the bottom of the river, which can affect fish and other aquatic life, Clark said.
And the garbage itself can also be transported downstream into other larger rivers and lakes.
The Rachel Notley government's consumer carbon tax wound up becoming a weapon the UCP wielded to drum the Alberta NDP out of office. But that levy-and-repayment program, and the wide-ranging "climate leadership plan" around it, also stood as the NDP's boldest, provincial-reputation-altering move in their single-term tenure.