The Drainage Act provides a method whereby landowners can petition their local municipality for solutions to their drainage problems. However, since the procedure to be followed by the landowners, the municipality and the engineer is contained in the legislation itself, it must be adhered to. For many municipalities, the procedure has been used so often that adhering to it is not a difficulty. However, for some new clerks or treasurers or for municipalities that have not had experience with the Act in the past, this can be difficult. In those situations, the drainage engineer is often called upon to give his or her advice.

Available at this conference are three documents that can be of assistance in those situations. The first is called "Clerk’s Checklist for Works under a New Engineer’s Report". This one-page document lists the major steps to be followed in the petition drain process (Section 4) or for the improvement of an existing drain (Section 78). The second document, available through our ministry is a 4-page "Petition Drain Procedure Flowchart" that lays out this procedure. It is important to note that the diamond-shaped boxes are points in process that require a decision. Third is the factsheet entitled "Drainage Legislation" which gives a summary of the Drainage Act and also provides a step-by-step listing the petition drain procedure. This can also be useful for landowners unfamiliar with the Drainage Act. Finally, if municipal staff want more details on the Drainage Act, they could also attend one of the "Municipal Staff Drainage Courses" offered annually.

Last year, the Chair of the Drainage Tribunal, Mr. Vernon Spencer spoke at this conference about the Tribunal’s activities in the previous year and provided some of his observations. Some of the comments and suggestions he provided related to the engineer’s report. As a result, the Committee on Land Drainage has asked me to give a presentation on engineer’s reports. Some documents already exist on the subject and I have made them available at this conference.

This document was prepared in 1987 by the AOLS-APEO Joint Committee on Land Drainage to encourage the use of preliminary reports and to provide some guidance on the content of preliminary reports to ensure that it remains eligible for grants. A preliminary report must be precisely that: Preliminary. It is intended to provide landowners with basic information so that informed decisions can be made. The content of a preliminary report is defined in Section 10 of the Drainage Act:

In addition, preliminary reports may identify various options and associated costs for consideration by the petitioners, but it must not contain an assessment schedule. If a decision is made not to proceed with a drainage works based on a preliminary report, a grant is normally available. However, if it contains more information than indicated above, it is not considered "preliminary" and the grant will not be paid.