Agriculture Drainage Ditch Program

Purposes

The Purposes of the RDC AgDitch Program are to:

a) assist Red Deer County Drainage Districts and Drainage Societies in maintaining and protecting their existing agricultural drainage ditches;

b) provide a consistent “budgetable” (by both the County and the Drainage District/Society) funding source;

c) conserve or improve water quality in Red Deer County, by working with the landowners adjacent to agricultural drainage ditches, assisting them in adopting appropriate beneficial management practices (BMPs) that minimize negative impacts of their operations on the ditches and the water in those ditches.

Intent

The Intent of the RDC AgDitch Program is to work with interested Drainage Districts and Drainage Societies in Red Deer County, who wish to access funding from Red Deer County for ongoing maintenance works, of their existing drainage infrastructure.

In addition, the intent of the RDC AgDitch Program is to work with interested Drainage Districts and Drainage Societies in the County, in encouraging adjacent landowners to adopt relevant BMPs.

The RDC AgDitch Program is intended to be a cost-shared program. That is, a Drainage District or Drainage Society wishing to access funding from the RDC AgDitch Program will be expected to financially contribute to the projects being proposed. These contributions may be additional cash, and/or equipment and/or labour (equipment and labour to be valued at levels currently being used by the Province of Alberta in its Growing Forward Stewardship Plan Program).

It is expected that the RDC AgDitch Program will have the added benefit of increasing effective communications between Red Deer County and the Drainage Districts and Drainage Societies in the County. In addition, the RDC AgDitch Program is intended to support strategic business planning by Drainage Districts and Drainage Societies.

Conversely, it IS NOT the intent of the RDC AgDitch Program to:

a) Encourage drainage of more wetlands in Red Deer County

b) Support the construction of new agricultural drainage infrastructure, by Drainage Districts and Drainage Societies

c) Support individual landowners in Red Deer County in the construction or maintenance of their own agricultural drainage infrastructure.

Program funding

a) Drainage Districts and Drainage Societies wishing to participate in the RDC AgDitch Program are eligible to apply for an amount of funding equal to or less than the total number of kilometers of agricultural drainage ditch that they maintain, multiplied by $300.00. See the table below for exact amounts. The application form is available as a separate document.

b) Drainage Districts and Drainage Societies are eligible to apply for this funding each year, provided that they have developed an approved maintenance plan.

c) For larger maintenance projects, Drainage Districts and Drainage Societies can access the funding and “bank it” for up to three years, to save the grant for those larger projects. The District/Society would need to develop an approved multi-year maintenance plan, and apply each year, and they would bank the funding received.

d) The funding that a Drainage District or Drainage Society accesses from the RDC AgDitch Program may be used only for maintenance works, conducted under the approval of Alberta Environment. The Drainage District or Drainage Society must demonstrate, in writing, that they have the authority from Alberta Environment, to conduct the specific proposed work(s), in their RDC AgDitch Program application, before any funding will be released to them.

e) For the purposes of the RDC AgDitch Program, “maintenance” is limited to projects that return the AgDitch to its original “as-built” condition. Projects that change the original, as-built grade, or the original as-built alignment, will not be eligible.

f) Drainage Districts and Drainage Societies can use the funding they receive under the RDC AgDitch Program for any costs associated with the projects they receive the funding for.

g) As part of their application to the, RDC AgDitch Program, Drainage Districts and Drainage Societies must demonstrate the efforts they will be taking to encourage adjacent landowners to adopt BMPs that protect the ditches and water quality in those ditches. The application for funding will not be approved if this requirement is not met.

h) Any RDC AgDitch Program funding not allocated to Drainage Districts or Drainage Societies in a given year, may be put into an RDC AgDitch Program funding reserve. Red Deer County will allocate this funding when/if needed, to Drainage Districts or Drainage Societies maintenance projects on a case-by-case basis.

i) RDC AgDitch Program funding may be allocated to projects that convert land drained by a Drainage District or Drainage Society in the past, back to restored wetlands, if that is part of the group’s maintenance plan.

i. Special Restoration Incentive: If a group chooses to do this, and it reduces the length of ag drainage ditch that they maintain, their “funding available” will not be reduced accordingly, for a period of 3-5 years after the restoration project occurs.

Program Decision-making and Program Assistance

Applications for the RDC AgDitch Program will be reviewed by Red Deer County Operations and Agriculture Services staff, in consultation where necessary with Alberta Environment staff. Decisions are final / there is no possibility of appeal.

Red Deer County will not provide technical assistance to the Drainage Districts or Drainage Societies, in preparing their applications/maintenance plans. Red Deer County Conservation staff may assist Drainage Districts or Drainage Societies, and adjacent landowners, in landowner BMP adoption.

Permits and Approvals

It is the responsibility of the Drainage District or Drainage Society to ensure that they have all required permits and approvals, from any and all regulatory / permitting agencies. Red Deer County will not be responsible in any way for permits and approvals for any project

carried out under the RDC AgDitch Program. The Drainage District or Drainage Society must demonstrate to Red Deer County that they have all required permits and approvals, before any AgDitch Program funding will be released to them.

Responsibilities of Participating Drainage Districts / Drainage Societies

a) Drainage Districts or Drainage Societies will prepare and submit an application for funding under the RDC AgDitch Program, at least one month before the proposed works will take place.

b) Drainage Districts or Drainage Societies must, as part of their application, describe the ditch maintenance best practices that they will follow while carrying out their ditch maintenance projects, to minimize any negative impacts on the environment.

c) Drainage Districts or Drainage Societies will acquire and maintain all required permits, approvals, permissions, etc. for ditch maintenance projects carried out under the RDC AgDitch Program. These will be presented to Red Deer County as part of the AgDitch Program application for funding.

d) Drainage Districts or Drainage Societies will be responsible for all costs associated with a ditch maintenance project, over and above those costs covered by their RDC AgDitch Program grant.

e) Drainage Districts or Drainage Societies will be responsible for completing their ditch maintenance project(s) being supported by the RDC AgDitch Program.

f) Drainage Districts or Drainage Societies will be responsible for following all applicable guidelines/ best practices while carrying out their ditch maintenance project(s), to minimize any negative impacts on the environment.

g) Drainage Districts or Drainage Societies will provide reasonable notice to Red Deer County staff, so that staff can be on site to view (and photograph) the maintenance work being done, if possible/feasible.

h) Drainage Districts or Drainage Societies will complete the projects in the calendar year of their agreement with the County. If they do not, they will forfeit the agreement, and will have to re-apply for the work the next year.

i) Drainage Districts or Drainage Societies will complete and send to the County, an “as-built” report, describing how the project was completed, and any challenges that arose, and how they were dealt with, by December 1 of the calendar year of their agreement with the County.

j) Drainage Districts or Drainage Societies will not hold Red Deer County responsible for this project, in any way.

k) Failure to adhere to any of the above responsibilities may result in the denial of AgDitch funding for that calendar year, or it may result in the denial of funding for the next calendar year, if the current year’s funding has already been released to the Drainage District or Drainage Society,