The Saskatchewan government has approved the first of what it expects will be many organized drainage projects under its Agricultural Water Management Strategy.
The Dry Lake project in the rural municipalities of Montmartre and Fillmore southeast of Regina brought together 73 landowners and more than 18,000 acres under a single permit.
“Under the old system, those 73 landowners would have had to apply for three permits each,” said Environment Minister Scott Moe.
They would have required land control agreements or legal easements on 113 quarters of land. Instead, one joint application looked after them all, as well as the approvals to construct and operate drainage works and aquatic habitat protection permits.
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The strategy is based on regulations implemented in September 2015 that focus on better drainage control and organization. The regulations will be supported by legislation introduced last fall to amend the Water Security Agency Act.
Dry Lake is the largest project ever permitted in the province. It includes 30 gates to control water releases during spring runoff into the Moose Mountain Creek and then the Souris River.
Thirty-four acres of restored wetland on existing drainage and 21 acres of wetland retention on new drainage within the project will hold back water.
Ken Weichel, the reeve of the RM of Montmartre, said landowners are pleased with how the project came together. Most of the water went from that RM into the RM of Fillmore.
“There was some problems with farmers draining water and not complying with the other neigh-bours, draining against their wishes,” he said.
“Some of the water when it drained, it just sat. Now everybody’s gotten together and they’re controlling the water and they’ve found an outlet to keep it going downstream.”
RM of Fillmore reeve Gerald Nixon said landowners in his RM are happy the water won’t hit all at once. He said aside from less flooded farmland, the RM won’t have to deal with road problems.
“Where (the water) comes out at the bottom end of Dry Lake, the road has washed out in years previous,” he said.
Moe said 12 other organized drainage projects involving more than 160,000 acres are in the works around the province.
It’s all part of the government’s move to get a handle on unauthorized drainage that has been causing flooding and disputes among neighbours for decades. Only 807 permits have ever been issued.
Agriculture Minister Lyle Stewart said farmers must get the message that they need permits for any drainage.
“It’s never been authorized to just drain on to your neighbour or into even a water body without some scrutiny or permitting,” he said. “Somehow over the last 30 years there’s not been a good understanding of the regulations that did exist.”
Moe said the intention now is to allow drainage while minimizing impacts downstream, including into Manitoba.
“Producers are part of the solution moving forward, and that is a different conversation than maybe we’ve had in the past,” he said.
Meanwhile, Moe isn’t planning any amendments to the proposed legislation despite requests from commodity organizations that oppose it. He met by conference call with some of them last week to better explain the legislation.
