Drainage Approval Process
Saskatchewan is known for providing food to the world and for having an extremely diverse landscape with abundant forests, lakes, rivers and wetlands. Saskatchewan landowners use drainage to bring land into production while retaining wetlands where it makes sense. Farmers can manage water to improve farm efficiency and soil health, reduce farm inputs, increase food production, all while still practicing environmental stewardship.
A wetland is an area where water sits long enough to change the soil and plants, this includes areas where water may only occur for a short portion of the year, even for just a few days after the spring snowmelt. Wetlands are both important and beneficial since they retain water, reduce erosion and downstream flooding, improve water quality, and provide habitat for wildlife.
What to Know Before you Begin
Let’s begin by answering a few common questions related to starting a project.
Are my drainage works ‘grandfathered’?
No. All drainage works require an approval. No works are grandfathered because all drainage works cause impacts, no matter when they were constructed.
My works drain into a Conservation and Development (C&D) ditch, so are my drainage works approved?
No. A C&D ditch may be approved, but all private drainage works which drain into it still require an approval.
Are drainage approvals necessary on my farm?
If you are a landowner who has drainage on your land, then you most likely need a drainage approval. Drainage is any action taken, or intended, for the removal or lessening of the amount of water from land, and includes deepening, straightening, widening or diversion of the course of a stream, creek, or other watercourse, as well as the construction of dykes. For additional information on what qualifies as drainage see our What is Drainage Fact Sheet.
What You Will Need
Hire a Qualified Person
Qualified Persons are drainage experts. These professional engineers, professional agrologists, applied science technologists, certified technicians, and other experienced people recognized by the Water Security Agency, can help you prepare your drainage application. Even when a drainage project looks simple, it seldom is. Projects usually involve multiple pieces of land, legal land permission, technical design and mapping. The services of a Qualified Person can reduce the time you invest in an approval.
Prepare an Application
You will need project plans, land permission and the application form. The Qualified Person will help you map all the drainage works and develop a plan. Land permission is for the approval holder to drain from his or her land, across, or onto, a parcel of land owned by another, or through ditches downstream to the outlet. The security of the drainage works approval depends on comprehensive information in the application, including all the land parcels involved. The experienced Qualified Person will complete and review the application form with you. The plans included with the application represent the drainage works to be approved, so they are very important. ‘If it’s not on the plan, it’s not approved.’
Land permission serves as a form of protection against your neighbour complaining about water crossing their land. Click here to find permits and applications related to your project.
Receive Approval
The Qualified Person will work closely with the Water Security Agency to assemble the requirements for an application and to gather all the landowner signatures. Drainage approvals provide security, reduce risk and protect downstream neighbours from negative impacts.
A registered approval remains on the title – even if the land is sold – for the term of the approval. Structures like flow throttles and mitigation such as wetland retention can manage broader impacts like downstream flooding, reduced water quality and habitat loss. As long as approval conditions are met, drainage works can operate and you can manage water to optimize crop production.
Land Permission Requirements for Drainage
The Water Security Agency (WSA) requires that drainage approval holders maintain land permission for any affected land that they do not own. The form of land permission, in most cases, will be up to the proponent.
What is meant by the term “land permission”?
Land permission refers to interest in lands. In the context of drainage, land permission is the right of the approval holder to drain from, across, or onto a parcel of land owned by another, or through ditches down- stream. There are various forms of land permission that are relevant to impacting lands from drainage.
From highest to lowest degree of control, the range is:
- ownership of land,
- an easement registered on title to the land,
- joint application,
- written agreement between landowners.
Why is land permission needed?
The potential for directly impacting neighbours with a drainage project makes it important that land permission be a consideration in the drainage approval process. The Water Security Agency Act requires that proponents of drainage projects provide “proof of land control [permission] satisfactory to the corporation [WSA].”
In the past, WSA has required proponents of drainage projects to acquire a registered easement on any lands that the proponent did not own that may be affected
by the project. Although this form of land permission offers proponents the certainty of being able to operate their project into the future, this was a challenging requirement to satisfy.
What is the current approach to land permission?
- WSA has made ongoing maintenance of land permission a condition of all drainage approvals. Where the approval holders do not own or hold easements over affected lands and works, a written agreement will be the minimum requirement.
- A written agreement will be required in the following circumstances:
- Drainage into approved privately owned ditches or into a watercourse that may not have adequate capacity to carry the water without spilling;
- Drainage of wetlands that are situated on more than one legal land parcel;
- Drainage into municipal ditches, or Conservation and Development or Watershed Association ditches.
- Joint application, ownership, or a registered easement will still be required in the following circum- stances:
- Drainage works built and/or maintained with public funds;
- Conservation and Development Area Authority or Watershed Association works.
- The holder of the drainage approval is responsible for providing evidence of land permission to WSA, when requested where a Request for Assistance has been accepted by the WSA. WSA will require written proof of land permission. Where evidence cannot be provided, WSA may order closure of the works.
What are my risks?
If you have a written agreement with your neighbour your land permission is safe until either you or your neighbour disposes of the land to someone else or changes the names on title – that could include adding a spouse, son, daughter or other relative to the title. Once the registered owners of either of the parcels changes, the written agreement is not enforceable, and you no longer have land permission. This will mean you are out of compliance with your drainage approval and may be at risk to compliance actions.
If the owners of all affected lands and works apply jointly for a drainage approval, all will be named on the approval and the rights and obligations in the approval will pass to subsequent landowners for the duration of the approval. This provides a greater level of security that the project will endure.
The most certainty comes with a registered easement on title or ownership of all affected lands and works. However, with an extensive project this is rarely a practical option.
Where can I get more information about land permission agreements?
WSA has developed templates for written agreements and legal easements that you can download and print for your use. Click the links below to find what you need.
We are here to help!
If you have any questions or need assistance to navigate the applications and forms needed to complete your project, please reach out to our Client Service Agents at 1.866.727.5420 or client.service@wsask.ca.