Course:ECON371/UBCO2011WT1/GROUP1/Article 1: Manitoba to curb hog farms to save Lake Winnipeg

Summary

This article details Lake Winnipeg's blue-green algae problem and its possible causes, notably fertilizer used on crops and livestock production. Lake Winnipeg is the eleventh largest freshwater lake in the world, and is used by the public for its beaches and also by a commercial fishery. Concerned about the deterioration of the lake's quality due to blue-green algae, the province of Manitoba commissioned a study to look at possible causes of the deterioration and ways of improving it.

The study recommended reducing the flows of phosphorus, which mainly come from sewage, fertilizer, livestock and other natural sources, by 50 percent. This will be achieved by blocking hog farm expansions which don't take steps to protect the water, and by banning the use of pig manure as a winter soil fertilizer. Not everyone agrees with placing the blame on hog farmers, however. Karl Kynoch, chairman of the Manitoba Pork Council and hog farmer himself, stated that Lake Winnipeg's water quality had worsened even though hog farming had decreased; thus it was unfair to blame hog farmers for the lake deterioration.

In addition to the farming regulations, the province is looking at protecting wetlands in the province, which could help to filter the phosphorus out before the water reaches the lake, and also will build a new sewage treatment plant in Winnipeg.

[Winnipeg, Lake. Photograph. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Web. 6 Oct. 2011. <http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/media/15248/Lake-Winnipeg-Manitoba-Canada>.]

Analysis

One of the main problems facing Lake Winnipeg is the fact that it is an open-access resource. Many people benefit from having the lake clean, yet it is difficult to prevent certain individuals or firms from behaving in ways that contribute to the deterioration of the lake.

Presumably, the authors of the study would have looked at the various benefits and costs of taking action against the pollution of the lake. On the benefits side, Manitobans who enjoy coming to the lake and its beaches accrue value from having it blue-green algae free, as the algae is toxic and can make people and animals sick, not to mention the damper it puts on the aesthetic nature of the lake. A travel-cost approach could be used to put a value on this aspect of the resource. Industries, such as the fishery and even the farms, benefit from keeping Lake Winnipeg clean as well. Since the blue-green algae starves fish in the lake of oxygen, the damages from blue-green algae would probably be quite large. Looking at the damage costs to the fishery of having increased blue-green algae could have helped the authors of the study to see how much the fishery would benefit from having less algae.

On the costs side, the authors would have looked at costs to the farmers and to the Manitoba taxpayers, as these are the main parties who would incur costs with the new legislations and projects. The authors also should have looked at enforceability issues. It might be difficult to make sure that all of the individual, small-scale hog farmers are using water-friendly methods of production, and making sure that farmers aren't selling or even giving their neighbours manure to use for winter manure spreading. The article was unclear as to how the government was planning to enforce the new tighter rules on farming methods. However, the article seems to imply that people at a national level will not be impacted, as it states "changes in Manitoba are not likely to impact markets" and doesn't mention the federal government funding any of the projects.

As always, weighing efficiency and equity would have come into play. Hopefully the new legislation limiting the practices of hog farmers will move their emissions level closer to where the hog farmers' marginal abatement costs equal the damages that they could be causing. If Kynoch is correct in his assertion that few farmers still use winter manure spreading techniques, then this aspect of the extra cost born to farmers shouldn't be much at all. The authors of the study also should have looked at how the extra cost to taxpayers will be distributed amongst people of different income groups.

The algae which is accumulating in the lake is mainly coming from a nonpoint source pollutant (phosphorus) via four different provinces and the northern United States, in the form of runoffs from fertilizers and manure. The article specifically states that water quality has been improved in other lakes by treating flow from municipal sewage or specific large farms, but treating the flows from "broader sources have been more difficult." The vast area that surrounds the lake makes it harder to see exactly who is polluting the lake the most, limits the ability of the people who are polluting to actually see the degradation taking place, and makes the cleaning of the lake more than just a local problem. To arrive at a more phosphorus-free lake, arrangements would have to be made with the other provinces and the United States, not just Manitoba itself.

Another article which was published even more recently documents the same green-blue algae problem in Lake Erie in Ontario. Again, fertilizers, manure and sewage seem to be the main cause. http://online.wsj.com/article/AP799469b5525f40e6b7c482540aa16f4d.html

Prof's Comments

For the first one, great job. We are moving into the different policy tools now, where a discussion of the policy used here - a standard - could be compared to the relative merits of other policy tools - taxes or subsidies, tradable permits.

10/10