RUSSELL, Man. – A group of Westman mayors, reeves and councillors say their concerns have been overlooked along the border with Saskatchewan as massive amounts of water roll through to Manitoba every spring and destroy infrastructure.
Representatives from the Rural Municipality of Sifton, Municipality of Russell Binscarth and the RM of Riding Mountain West told the Sun this month that water from Saskatchewan causes damage in the hundreds of thousands of dollars year over year. Grant Boryskavich, reeve of Riding Mountain West, described the issue as a recurring, unfair burden to taxpayers.
“What happens consistently along the Manitoba-Saskatchewan border is, there’s a big flush of water coming and roads are getting washed out,” Boryskavich said. “The municipalities continually have to pay, and have their taxpayers pay for that.”
The state of emergency this April in Russell Binscarth was due to water from Saskatchewan, Mayor Judy Snitynsky told the Sun. The surge of water partially collapsed a culvert 12 feet in diameter, which she said will cost more than $350,000 to repair. Staff were also forced to excavate another road so that water could flow past.
“We are left on our own, repairing roads and bridges and culverts at hundreds of thousands of dollars year over year,” Snitynsky said. “It’s our local taxpayers who end up paying for all of that, right? That’s our issue.”
The locals from western Manitoba said the province does not provide enough support to fix the damage the water causes, and they feel the province should be more involved, as it ultimately decides water flows through Manitoba.
About 110 quarter-sections of land in Saskatchewan drain into the community of Russell Binscarth in the spring, Coun. Barry Wishart told the Sun. He said, “Little creeks that used to be creeks are, now, for two weeks in the spring, rivers.”
When asked about a meeting with the Saskatchewan Water Security Agency last month, which they did not attend but were briefed on, Boryskavich and RM of Sifton Coun. Scott Phillips said that a major takeaway was discovering a discrepancy between Manitoba’s and Saskatchewan’s policies around culverts.
“The one thing that really surprised the municipalities and the people that were there is that the RMs in Saskatchewan can put in any size culvert that they want,” said Boryskavich. “They don’t need a permit, whereas in Manitoba, you have to get a permit application. The (provincial staff) have to come out and size them for you and tell you what could be put in.”
As a result, municipalities in Manitoba are using smaller culverts than Saskatchewan in many cases to pass the same stream of water, he said. The snow melt runoff rushes to Manitoba, where the water bottlenecks, piles up at culverts and streams over roads, destroying infrastructure, flooding properties and in some cases knocking fencelines, Phillips said.
“We’re not designed for it,” said Phillips. “We can take their water over three or four weeks. We can’t take it over three or four days.”
The policy in Saskatchewan is to keep water flowing at its natural rate, said Krystal Tendler, executive director of agricultural water management at the Saskatchewan Water Security Agency. She said RMs cannot intentionally speed up the flow of water, but recent years have still seen a surge due to Mother Nature.
“The last two years, the melt has been very fast on the east side,” said Tendler. “That means runoff comes hard and heavy through the east side of Saskatchewan and into Manitoba, and I’m sure that they experienced impacts, just as we did.”
On the issue of farmers draining water off their property illegally, the agency is working with staff in the field to speed up compliance with regulations. The agency updated rules in 2016 so that all drainage projects are required to mitigate downstream impacts, and will take some time to be fully adopted across the province, she said.
The Water Security Agency identified a few areas of Saskatchewan where there is less compliance with rules, such as the area surrounding Yorkton, Sask., about 100 kilometres northeast of Russell. She said the agency is focusing efforts in that area, among others, to ensure the new regulations are known and understood, and to help farmers build projects such as culverts that control the flow of water.
In January, the province adopted its Agricultural Water Stewardship Policy as well, which she said would help mitigate water flows to Manitoba.
“It’s going to be an important one to help us control that cumulative impact that might be seen downstream,” said Tendler. “If farmers want to drain some water off their land, they can’t drain it all. They have to keep a percentage of all of their wetlands.”
When asked about the recent damage in Manitoba, a spokesperson from the Province of Manitoba provided a statement to the Sun, saying the government will look to better partner with Saskatchewan in the coming years.
“Manitoba recognizes that Saskatchewan is taking a different approach to drainage than in the past, and looks forward to working with Saskatchewan to manage interprovincial drainage more sustainably to reduce its impact on Manitoba’s infrastructure and agricultural activity,” the spokesperson wrote in an email. “Manitoba and Saskatchewan work together on water management, including through a formal memorandum of understanding on water management that has been in place for nearly 10 years. This agreement provides a venue to discuss and prevent transboundary issues when they arise.”
Manitoba’s Environment and Climate Change Minister Mike Moyes said he would table the subject with officials in the neighbouring province shortly.
“I look forward to connecting with my Saskatchewan counterpart in the coming weeks on how we can work together to minimize impacts of interprovincial drainage on Manitoba’s infrastructure and agricultural sector,” he wrote in an email to the Sun.
Boryskavich said the issue is widespread up and down west Manitoba municipalities, though people do not want to rock the boat. The issue is not the water coming through Manitoba, but the speed at which it comes, he said.
“Ellice-Archie has the same problem, and Russell Binscarth has the same problem. And Two Borders down in the southwest corner has the same problem,” said Boryskavich. “This goes all the way from Riding Mountain West, which is like Inglis, and up to Robin, all the way down to the United States border.”
The Sun was unable to reach the reeve of the RM of Ellice-Archie; however, Sandra Clark, reeve of the Municipality of Two Borders, confirmed her community had been flooded in 2014 due to Saskatchewan drainage water and hopes to work with the Saskatchewan government to mitigate water flow.
After raising the issue for years to the Province of Manitoba, Wishart said the concern has “fallen on deaf ears” when communicated to several different elected governments. Boryskavich held the same notion about a lack of advocacy on behalf of his community, saying, “Sometimes we just don’t know if they actually care about us out here in western Manitoba,” and, “I’ve been doing this for 13 years, and things have gotten worse.”
The communities along the border with Saskatchewan have applied for funding through emergency management and disaster funding over time; however, looking to the future, Boryskavich, Wishart, and Russell Binscarth Councillor Wes Anderson hope the province can help municipalities pay for larger infrastructure along the Saskatchewan border, or advocate to slow down the water flow from Saskatchewan.
Ducks Unlimited Canada spokesperson Shaun Greer told the Sun that the organization would be interested in partnering to provide solutions to absorb water and fix issues like the flooding in western Manitoba. He said the non-profit would be interested in restoring and protecting wetlands to provide a natural “sponge” in these areas, which would help address water surges.
The Westman municipalities hope to gain support at the Association of Manitoba Municipalities, as they plan to bring the flooding issue forward and request support from the province soon.
