60 Advertising Section | All content supplied by LICO Drainage Directory | August 2024 Perhaps it didn’t make the frontpage news across the province, but the long-anticipated changes to the Conservation Authorities Act that came into force on April 1, 2024, are something all drainage contractors and farmers should be aware of. Ontario regulation 41/24 Prohibited Activities, Exemptions and Permits has now replaced certain parts of the Act. While the changes reduce the areas that Conservation Authorities (CA) can regulate, it increases their power to enforce regulations, to a point. To start, the new changes improve the definition of a watercourse to be a “defined channel, having a bed and banks or sides, in which a flow of water regularly or continuously occurs,” and so the uppermost portions of a watershed might not be regulated as before, and CAs will be updating their mapping to make it more clear to the public where permits are required. There is no requirement for a permit for tile drain installations “that are not within a wetland or watercourse, within 30 metres of a wetland or within 15 metres of a watercourse, and that have an outlet of water that is not directed or connected to a watercourse, wetland or river or stream valley, or the mainten- ance or repair of existing tile drains” s. 5(b). As well, smaller structures (like docks) with less risk don’t require CHANGES TO THE CONSERVATION AUTHORITIES ACT By Mel Luymes, LICO Drainage Directory
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