Saskatchewan announces new agriculture drainage regulations

Saskatchewan’s Minister responsible for the Water Security Agency (WSA), Herb Cox, announced on Tuesday new drainage regulations, the first phase of an agricultural water management strategy that recognizes the benefits of benefits and the importance of mitigating negative impacts.

A press release from the Water Security Agency said that “this is the first significant change to drainage regulations in 35 years.” One key change is “ensuring that impacts related to flooding, water quality and habitat loss are addressed as part of the drainage works approval process,” the press release said. Another significant change is enabling the use of “qualified persons” in the design of higher risk drainage works.

The changes also allow landowner agreements as evidence of land control, simplify and streamline the application approval process and no longer exempt works constructed before 1981 from requiring an approval.

“We recognize drainage is an important water management tool for producers and these new regulations will help us streamline the approval process to help producers become compliant while mitigating damage downstream,” Cox said in the release. “These new regulations are part of the development of a risk-based agricultural water management strategy that will improve the overall process, including applications and investigating complaints, and will help prevent future issues.”

The new regulations were created after extensive online and industry stakeholder consultations; more than 500 public participants and 15 industry and environmental groups provided input.

The regulations are the first step in a phased-in approach to bring all drainage in the province into compliance over the next 10 years, WSA explained. The next phase of the agricultural water management strategy will be the development and refining of policies and program delivery, which will be used in a series of pilot projects and then expanded to the rest of the province.

The pilot projects are based in the Souris Basin near Stoughton and the Assiniboine Basin near Canora. Local producers, watershed authorities and representatives in those areas have committed to working with the WSA to implement the new strategy and to help bring existing drainage projects into compliance.

The WSA will continue working with stakeholders to develop policies on mitigation, application processes and informational materials.

“Drainage is one of the major issues facing rural Saskatchewan so we are pleased that the government is implementing regulations meant to address deficiencies with the current system,” Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities president Ray Orb said in the release. “We have been awaiting this announcement and look forward to working with the government on the implementation of these regulations and further refinement of the agriculture water management strategy as it is phased in over the next few years.”