Staff
Members of the public with questions or concerns about the regulation of Rainy Lake and Namakan Lake, and water quality on the Rainy River, are invited to the annual public meeting of the International Rainy Lake Board of Control and the International Rainy River Water Pollution Board next Tuesday (Aug. 25).
The meeting is slated for 7 p.m. in the theatre of Rainy River Community College, located at 1501 Hwy. 71 over in International Falls.
The joint public meeting—which the boards are committed to holding annually—is held to make members and commissioners available to meet the public face-to-face, as well as hear comments or questions.
The origin of the IRLBC begins back in 1938 when the Rainy Lake Convention between Canada and the U.S gave the International Joint Commission (IJC) the power to determine when emergency conditions, whether by high or low water, exist in the Rainy Lake watershed.
The convention empowered the IJC to adopt such measures of control that it might deem proper with respect to the two existing dams at Kettle Falls and the one at Fort Frances-International Falls.
Then in 1941, the IRLBC was created by the IJC to examine and report on the issue of emergency conditions.
In 1949, after detailed study and recommendations by the board, the IJC issued an order prescribing the method of regulating boundary waters (Rainy and Namakan lakes).
The order established single rule curves for the water levels of Rainy and Namakan lakes, as well as minimum outflows, in order to preclude (to the extent possible) the occurrence of emergency conditions.
This order later was amended by supplementary orders in October, 1957, July, 1970, and January, 2000.
In January, 2001, the original and the three supplementary orders were consolidated into one document, which was adopted by the IJC as the authoritative text of—and replacement for—the original order and its amendments.
The consolidated order of January, 2001, which currently is in place, specifies a water level band with upper and lower rule curves for each lake, minimum outflow requirements under normal low-flow conditions, and a “drought line,” defining lake levels below which outflows are further reducible (at the discretion of the IRLBC) down to absolute minimums.
Meanwhile, the IRRWPB, which was formed in 1966, is mandated to maintain supervision over the waters of the Rainy River in relation to pollution.
It also carries out inspections, evaluations, and assessments from time to time—as the board considers necessary or desirable—to determine whether the water quality objectives for the Rainy River are being met.
