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• Agricultural Land use - Drainage Services

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Agricultural Land use - Drainage Services

The Agricultural Land Use – Drainage Services section of the Agriculture and Rural Division of the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural AFFAIRS (OMAFRA) is responsible for the administration of three statutes: The Drainage Act, the Tile Drainage Act and the Agricultural Tile Drainage Installation Act.

Specifically, OMAFRA drainage staff offers the following services:

• Providing service and guidance to landowners with drainage problems
• Providing advice and guidance to landowners involved in municipal drain projects
• Providing advice and assistance to municipal staff, drainage engineers and drainage superintendents
• Processing Drainage Act grant applications submitted by municipalities
• Processing debentures for tile loans submitted by municipalities
• Investigating complains about the installation of tile drainage systems
• Providing training courses for drainage superintendents, municipal staff and tile drainage contractors

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION

www.omafra.gov.on.ca

Check out the drainage information located on the Ministry website:

DRAINAGE LEGISLATION

The Drainage Act provides landowners with a tool for resolving drainage problems by petitioning their municipality for a communal drainage scheme, commonly known as a “municipal drain”. An engineer retained by the municipality prepares a report with a proposed solution to the problem. Landowners have an opportunity to appeal various aspects of the report. After all appeals have been resolved, the report is adopted by municipal by-law, the drain is built and the cost of the work is assessed to the landowners in the watershed. The local municipality, through their drainage superintendent, is also responsible for the management of the network of municipal drains. The Drainage Act also allows the Province of Ontario to provide grants towards the construction, improvement, maintenance and repair of municipal drains and for the cost of employing a drainage superintendent.

The Tile Drainage Act allows agricultural landowners to obtain a loan for the purpose of installing private subsurface tile drainage systems on their agricultural land. Applications for this 10-year term, fixed 8% loans are submitted to the local municipality. Once approved, the farmer arranges to have the work performed by a licensed contractor and the municipality obtains the loan funds from the province. The funding is passed to the landowner and the repayments are collected similar to taxes.

For information on how to apply for a tile loan, please contact Ruth Orton-Pert Director of Corporate Services for the Town of Kingsvill at 519-733-2305 or by e-mail at rorton-pert@kingsville.ca

The Agricultural Tile Drainage Installation Act requires contractors who install tile drainage on agricultural land, along with their machines and machine operators, to be licensed. The Act requires all drainage systems to be properly planned and designed by qualified and experienced individuals. Through licensing and inspection, the Ministry can ensure that machine operators and their equipment can complete tile installation safely and correctly.

Check out the drainage information located on the Ministry websites:

http://www.omafra.gov.on.ca