A new, fast-tracked approvals process for minor water-control work on Manitoba farmland is now in place.
Provincial Water Stewardship Minister Christine Melnick on Friday announced a simplified licensing process for drainage and require licensing for minor work.
“Our focus this fall will be to inform landowners of the new procedures and to assist them through the process,” she said in a release.
Water-control work includes installation of or changes to dikes, dams, drains, culverts and/or waterways.
If such work is “minor in nature” and unlikely to have any impact, it can now be licensed through an “expedited” process, the province said. A minor works licence won’t need to be renewed by a landowner or future landowners to maintain the work.
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Projects not considered minor must still go through a more formal approvals process, the province said.
The water stewardship department said it has 23 staff and six rural offices in the province to provide licences and help landowners meet the requirements of the Water Rights Act.
“One of the benefits for producers is that they will have to apply only once for a licence for a minor drainage project that doesn’t affect downstream properties,” said Ian Wishart, president of Manitoba farm group Keystone Agricultural Producers, in the province’s release.
“We will work with Manitoba Water Stewardship to monitor the process and ensure that all producers are being treated fairly,” said Wishart, who farms at Portage la Prairie.
The province noted that KAP was one of the groups consulted in the new policy’s development, along with the Manitoba Cattle Producers Association, the Association of Manitoba Municipalities and members of the Manitoba Conservation Districts Association.
