We have a Waterways Management Program in place that falls under the responsibility of the Field Operations Department. The program has several components in regards to impacted waterways; boat patrols, debris clearing, shoreline stabilization, supplementary work, safe ice trails, and community relations.
Boat patrols have several functions:
- they map and record daily routes;
- mark deadheads and reefs;
- identify debris work areas;
- place hazard markers identifying safe travel routes for resource users;
- gather floating debris, deadheads, old nets etc. and relocate them to safe areas.
The boat patrol workers are seasonal Manitoba Hydro employees, hired from the surrounding Northern Indigenous communities.
The program is in place throughout the Churchill River Diversion and Lake Winnipeg Regulation waterways, as well as the Saskatchewan River watershed areas. The boat patrols areas are identified as reaches.