A program to help rural Saskatchewan municipalities and local authorities cover costs of channel clearing and maintaining drains for flood prevention will now expand to include individual landowners.
The province’s Water Security Agency (WSA) said Friday its $1 million cost-share rebate program will expand its eligibility beyond RMs, conservation and development area (C+D) authorities and watershed associations to also include landowners and small urban (under 5,000 people) municipalities.
The program provides a 50 per cent rebate of eligible costs, up to a maximum $100,000 per application/applicant, for activities in the 2023-24 program year.
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Eligible work can include removing silt, sediment, beaver dams and/or debris such as trees, brush and deadfall. The work is meant to reduce risk of blockages that can cause flooding on roadways and farmland, whether on approved drainage projects or natural watercourses.
Eligible projects can’t involve altering, replacing or repairing existing structures such as culverts or approaches. Other than sediment removal, projects also mustn’t involve new earthwork of any kind, such as digging new ditches or deepening, widening or otherwise reshaping a natural watercourse.
In clearing natural channels, volumes of water released “must not be so significant as to result in damage to downstream lands.” A project proponent also must have consent from owners of land next to the natural watercourse before starting the work.
Eligible applicants are also responsible for gathering “all necessary approvals, licences or authorizations required under municipal, provincial or federal legislation” and approvals from any affected landowners for access to a work site.
The application deadline for this program year is Jan. 31, 2024; the program will only cover eligible costs incurred between April 1, 2023 and Jan. 31, 2024.
“Preserving unobstructed waterways and proactively managing potential flooding and erosion concerns play a critical role in safeguarding the well-being of every individual residing in Saskatchewan,” Jeremy Cockrill, the provincial minister responsible for the WSA, said Friday in a release.
WSA said it also “streamlined” the rebate program this year by “eliminating unnecessary steps” in the application process. — Glacier FarmMedia Network
