Manitoba to streamline drainage compliance

By Shawn Cabak Manitoba Agriculture

The Manitoba government is responding to feedback from municipalities to help take a co-ordinated approach on bringing unlicensed drainage works into compliance and achieve best value from the licensing system.

• Co-ordinating legacy drainage projects on a single licence for maintenance purposes;

• Defraying the cost of the licence over multiple projects, providing greater value for money for municipalities and ratepayers; and on pastures is sufficient for grazing but moisture will be needed for regrowth. This will impact the length of the grazing season and whether stocking rates will have to be adjusted down the road.

Shawn Cabak is a Livestockand Forage Extension Specialist based out of Portage la Prairie. You can contact him at shawn. cabak@gov.mb.ca. or by phone: (204) 239-3353.

The Manitoba government and the Association of Manitoba Municipalities are working together on a legacy drainage licensing project. Additionally, the Manitoba government is encouraging municipalities to bundle connected legacy drainage projects together into one application to provide greater value and encourage a watershed approach to drain maintenance.

This approach has a number of benefits including:

• Encouraging a planned approach to drainage maintenance on a watershed basis.

The Manitoba government is also working to enhance drainage compliance across the province, including enhanced resources for enforcement in Budget 2023 and a review of pre-set fine levels to bring these into line with the new licensing and registration model. For more information on drainage and water rights in Manitoba, visit www.manitoba.ca/drainage.