People come to Little Manitou Lake from all over the world to bask in the healing salt waters.  Since all is connected, we can now see that various human activities around the waters and within the waters of Little Manitou Lake are having a great effect on each of our experiences.  Sections of Little Manitou Lake are filled with a green sludge which moves with the wind from area to area…the overall lake is covered in algae…the lake is contaminated.

As our eyes scan the horizon from across Manitou Beach, we can see the raising of animals for along the shores and up the hills. Over decades, these animals produce a lot of excrement and much of this high-nitrogen containing substance enters the waters…as we can all observe especially swimmers and boaters…the algae LOVE it.  As this nitrogen builds up in the lake, it has an acidifying effect on the pH of the water, creating even more conditions for even more algae.  The situation is further compounded due to the leeching of farm fertilizers from nearby farms into local water tables, putting a great strain on the lake and surrounding ecosystem.

As we can all observe, the community of Manitou Beach and area has had a hand in disrupting the balance of the very special sacred waters.  Thousands of household and industrial chemicals bought from all over the province eventually find their way into the waters used by visitors, home owners, small businesses, campers, and industry….sewage lagoons are not separate from the land, so don’t go thinking that anything you put down the drain or flush down the toilet or dump behind your property isn’t affecting matters because it surely is…everything is connected.

Government mismanagement has disrupted the salt concentration and water table due to intentional diversion of fresh water sources from waters far away, into Little Manitou Lake.

Perhaps you will notice that I’ve focused on addressing the situation we’re faced with, without judgment….our judgments against one another are not needed at this time.  What is needed at this time are solutions….people coming together in harmony…conscious living and powerful directed action.  It’s up to us to assume full responsibility to clean up Little Manitou Lake now.  I’m going to propose an idea whose time has come…an idea so simple, so obvious, so affordable, so spiritual, and so natural that I believe it will resound as a viable solution to creating a cleaner environment and way of life for all who visit and live near Little Manitou Lake.

While all this human activity is upsetting natural balances, it’s clear to see that Mother Nature has her own natural healing cycle.  Imagine what natural processes have been taking place for thousands of years at Little Manitou Lake. As the wind blows and the rain falls, this creates a natural erosion of the hillside.  In fact it would be very reasonable to say that ever so slowly, the hillside erodes and washes into the lake and this process is healthy and balancing. 

The hillsides of the Little Manitou Lake are made up of large quantities of clay.  As the hillside falls away, large quantities of clay are exposed to the elements of wind, rain and snow, eventually ending up in the water.  This has many beneficial effects:

1. Natural erosion of the clay in the hillsides washes into the water…the clay binds excess nitrogen in the water, making it unavailable for the algae to use as food.

2. Natural erosion of the clay in the hillside washing into the water is Mother Nature’s way of balancing the water’s pH creating more alkaline conditions, thus limiting algae growth.

3. Clay has a natural ability to bind heavy metals, making it chemically unavailable to be dispersed in the water, thus reducing its effect in the aquatic biosystem.

4. Clay has a natural ability to limit the growth of many strains of bacteria.

I believe in the power of people to greatly assist in the cleansing of our world using the examples in nature that exist all around us. 

What can we do to assist Little Manitou Lake back into balance? Answer:   Assist existing natural cleansing processes to co-manage the waters of Little Manitou Lake with Mother Nature…how this is done both individually and collectively is up to you and her, it can be as easy as taking buckets of clay to the water and offering a prayer as you sprinkle the clay into the water.  Each of us can have a special role to play, locals and visitors alike, it involves setting our intentions to create a purer way of living, listening to mother earth and the Universe speaking directly to each of us by example …and then this can be followed by conscious action in collaboration with Mother Nature.

Love,

Dieter

Indian in the machine

Medicine hippy of german/cree ancestry....living in canada, talking Truth.

http://www.indianinthemachine.com/index2.html

Manitou Beach

http://www.indianinthemachine.com/greatspiritmanitou.html

www.indianinthemachine.com dieterbraun@sasktel.net