The Upper Souris Waterhed Association unveiled a new publication last week that highlights best practises and steps producers should go through to ensure their drainage efforts aren't going to adversely affect water quality downstream.
The Upper Souris Watershed hosted their inaugural Drainage Stewardship Conference on Dec. 4 in Weyburn, with about 110 producers and industry representatives attending the all-day event.
David Pattyson, interim co-ordinator for the Upper Souris Watershed Association, said the idea of drainage stewardship is something the association has only just been involved in, beginning in 2013.
"The whole concept of drainage stewardship is new to the Upper Souris Watershed Association. We've only been doing some projects for the last year," said Pattyson, who noted the conference was also a way for them to release a new publication regarding drainage that was put together in conjunction with the Water Security Agency.
While drainage stewardship is new to the association, Pattyson said they have begun introducing programs because farmers have been requesting them.
"A number of producers have existing drainage works. After recent weather events, they've been having some sort of erosion issues or have just not been performing as well as what they should be," he said. "We focus on existing drainage works that maybe are not as well designed as they could be or else some of the drainage works that have all the necessary permits in place need some maintenance to minimize the impacts to water quality downstream."
The stewardship programs are designed to improve existing drainage works and assisting producers in gaining the proper permits to complete these projects.
"Drainage has an impact on pretty much everybody that lives within the watershed," said Pattyson.
"(In the publication) we lead the producer through the whole process, even whether it's desirable for them to be draining some of the wetlands that are currently existing."
The conference was an information session, with speakers from various departments around the province, including the Water Security Agency, Prairie Consultants, Precision Land Solutions, the Moose Jaw River Watershed Stewards, and the North Saskatchewan Watershed, along with an address from Ken Cheveldayoff, minister responsible for the Water Security Agency.
Pattyson said their programming includes more than simple guidelines on draining land, but also includes how to restore wetlands to agricultural property.
"One of the things we also offer in conjunction with drainage stewardship is a wetland restoration program," noted Pattyson. "One of the things we found after we worked with drainage stewardship for quite some time now is that a lot of these projects also encompass a wetland restoration portion. It's not just strictly a person looking to drain. A lot of time it's someone looking to (restore) wetland."
He said there are also grants available through the Upper Souris Watershed producers may have received to cover some engineering costs and, in some instances, material costs.
"That's through some funding programs we do have in place," added Pattyson.
The publication will be available at rural service centres, as well as present at the Upper Souris Watershed office. The association also works with an Agri-Environmental Group Plan program, and those technicians will have copies as well.
Pattyson said last week's conference was intended to be a one-time affair, but after the response and support it received, he said it may be something they revisit perennially.
"Due to the level of interest in this issue, we had more producers attend than we had before. It shows a level of interest that we will likely be taking a look at and offering other conferences or workshops going forward."
