Farmers get worried when they hear about new water and drainage regulations.
However, as thousands of southeastern Manitoba farmers dealt with the after effects of 90 millimetres of rain on the June 14-15 weekend, Keystone Agricultural Producers president Doug Chorney said Manitoba’s new approval system should fix drainage problems faster.
“For 95 percent of what farmers do for drainage, this will make it better,” he said June 16.
Water stewardship minister Gord Mackintosh recently announced new regulations for drainage approvals and a broad new surface water strategy for the province.
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Manitoba has officially embraced a “no net loss” approach to wetland preservation, which will solidify the province’s existing current approach.
However, it is also implementing a streamlined approval process for routine and small-scale drainage projects.
Chorney said farmers installing drains that are less than 12 inches deep will not need to wait for a provincial official to visit their farms before receiving approval, “and that used to tie things up for weeks.”
Instead, the new process will require farmers to register details of plans for basic drainage with the province, and they will then receive approval within 10 days if it fits within a number of categories of ordinary drainage.
Only 10 to 20 percent of projects will later receive a visit from a provincial official to audit the project and see if it was correctly described in the application.
Larger scale drainage will require the more arduous approval process that is presently in effect.
Fees greatly increase with the new system, going from $25 for all applications to $100 for the routine applications and $1,000 for applications for large projects.
The surface water strategy will be formalized after farmers and other members of industry and the public have a chance to comment on the approach.
The province said it intends to move to a watershed-based approach to water management and end the net loss of wetlands. The strategy will be flexible, allowing wetlands to be reduced as long as new ones are created and applying the same approach to water stored within watersheds.
Chorney said farmers helped develop the new approach, which should allow them to better drain land while preserving wetlands and implementing positive systems such as tile drainage.
“We want well-managed water, and this lets us be part of that.”
