REGINA — The provincial auditor has given the Water Security Agency a failing grade in the most recent report, stating the agency hasn’t made enough changes to improve it’s regulation of drainage in Saskatchewan.
The report, released in June, followed up on recommendations made to the WSA in a 2018 audit of operations.
The auditor found that “significant work remains to better regulate drainage” in Saskatchewan, including more public transparency about the importance of proper drainage and increased enforcement of illegal drainage.
Out of the 11 recommendations made by the previous auditor’s report, the WSA has fully implemented two, partially implemented eight and made limited progress on one as of December 2020.
Since 2017, the WSA has put in place a five-year timeframe to renew drainage policies and created risk assessment documents for staff to use when processing a drainage application, although the provincial audit found that staff are not consistently using them.
However, concerns about unapproved drainage works remain high, said the auditor, especially in high-risk areas where it creates a larger risk of flooding, causing water quality issues in nearby bodies and loss of wetlands.
The WSA has identified high-risk areas successfully, but has not developed policies that aid staff in protecting them through the drainage works approval process, according to the auditor.
Already implemented improvements to the reporting process include creating internal deadlines and providing more reports to senior management, but the auditor said the new policies don’t go far enough.
The report calls on the WSA to keep the party requesting assistance informed, in order to be transparent during the process and increase public confidence.
The WSA should also be improving its enforcement measures after evaluating a report, said the audit.
Review of assistance request documents showed that in half of the reports reviewed, the WSA did not take action when landowners showed non-compliance following notice about their illegal drainage.
“Not taking timely, effective enforcement action against unapproved drainage works increases the risk of further damage to neighbouring farmland and downstream impacts,” said the report.
The provincial auditor also criticized the WSA for not actively searching for unapproved drainage works to resolve, as the current system relies on public reports.
Other critics of the WSA’s current reporting and enforcement policy, including the Citizens Environmental Alliance, agree and say more reform needs to take place.
“WSA relies on written complaints [that] pit neighbour against neighbour,” said a statement from the CEA. “Not enforcing the law also increasing the risk that landowners will continue to drain illegally and not change the culture of some farmers that ‘this is my land I can do what I want on it.’”
The WSA does not have a fully developed wetlands retention or water quality policy, continued the report, despite recommendations to create one that will help mitigate negative effects of wayward drainage.
In the WSA’s annual report in 2020, the agency licensed 3,570 quarters in the last three years, without requiring wetland retention as a condition for any approvals.
A representative from the WSA was not available for comment at the time of publishing.
