Sure. Thank you.
The challenges of nutrient loading in Lake Winnipeg are very significant. You mentioned the investment made under phase 1. What we're learning in combatting nutrient loading in Lake Winnipeg, and the amount of effort that is required not only in the water but in the agricultural lands, in the tributaries to the lake, will inform us with regard to similar problems in Lake Erie, elsewhere in the Great Lakes, and in other smaller freshwater lakes in Canada.
In phase 1 researchers had 24 projects that looked at everything from the water in the major sub-basin, which includes the Winnipeg River, Lake of the Woods, which of course is a very large lake. Many Canadians unfamiliar with southern Manitoba are unfamiliar with the immense size and the critical importance of Lake of the Woods.
They looked at the Assiniboine River and the Winnipeg River. They looked at the chemical and the biological integrity of these waters and the practices on land with regard to unintended drainage of fertilizers, for example, into the waters. They looked at the algae bloom, which is massive and recurring. They also announced a number of objectives that needed to be addressed, which is what brought us to the second $18 million, five-year investment in budget 2012 to continue that work and to work with, again, the province, communities, and landowners.
There are waste water issues. There are, as I said, fertilizer drainage issues. There is a tax base concern because it is a large recreational water as well as an important freshwater source. So this is a very important program. The work we do there, the science that is done there, will inform us in similar situations in other parts of the country.