Municipal Drains

To initiate a municipal drain project, submit a Petition for Drainage (this falls under Section 4 of the Drainage Act) using the prescribed form to the Municipality. To be a valid petition, the petition must be signed by: 

• The majority of property owners in the area that requires drainage, or
• The property owners that represent at least 60% of the land in the area requiring drainage, or 
• The engineer, road superintendent or person having authority over a road requiring drainage

The "area requiring drainage" is the area within a watershed with a drainage problem or need for drainage outlet - and is not the full watershed.

The engineer's report is temporarily adopted by by-law. Engineers consider a variety of factors in determining how the costs of municipal drains should be shared among property owners. Some of these factors include: 

• The benefit that the drain provides to the land; 
• The amount of land within the watershed of the drainage system;
• The amount of water contributed by the land (land use and soil type); 
• The distance the land is from the drain. 

Appeals to the report can then occur. After all appeals are settled, Council passes a by-law adopting the engineer's report, giving us the legal authority and responsibility to build the drain.

The Drainage Act was designed to primarily deal with Farm Drainage. The high costs for draining farmland (i.e. $1,000,000 split between five different farm owners) can be rationalized as a reasonable business expense. For example, the farmers are gaining better crop yield and can reduce their taxable income by this business expense and they can qualify for up to 1/3 in OMAFRA grants. However, these factors do not apply in urban drainage solutions. 

Urban homeowners cannot claim drainage costs as business expenses, the costs do not reduce their taxable income, and there are no grants available for residential properties. 

Urban landowners may consider a municipal drain but should also consider private or mutual agreement drains as a solution to their drainage needs. Do not petition for a municipal drain in order to get an estimate for what a drain may cost. Once a petition is signed and deemed valid a process will begin that will incur significant costs which are borne by the petitioners whether or not a drain solution is actually built.

Municipal drains are a complex undertaking. Once a petition is deemed valid, the municipality receiving the petition will assign an Engineer to create a Drain Report. A Drain Report involves: 

• Determining the watershed area and all properties involved in the area requiring drainage
• Designing an engineered drain solution
• Estimating construction costs
• Holding on-site meetings
• Applying for grants, as applicable
• Assigning costs to parties involved

A qualified Engineer is performing these tasks therefore significant costs are incurred getting a Drain Report completed for Council's consideration.

• For example, the engineering costs on a small drain could be 50% of the total costs to build a drain. This means that if the petitioners decide not to build the drain they have to pay the full amount of engineering costs regardless. 

All lands, roads, and utilities that are within the watershed of a municipal drain are responsible for the costs of construction and the maintenance of that drain. The cost to each property owner will differ based on the assessment schedule as set out in the Engineers report for each Municipal Drain.

For example, if there are seven residences on a road and each property is of equal size and they all require drainage, the Drainage Act says that the majority of owners (in this case, four of seven) can make a petition, or, the property owners that represent at least 60% of the land requiring drainage (in this case, if one person owned five of the properties) could sign the petition and make it valid. 

If the Engineer's report is accepted and the drain is constructed all seven properties pay their assessed share of the costs. However, if the Engineer's report is not accepted and the drain is not constructed the people who signed the petition equally share the engineering and related municipal administration costs.

Landowners in Central Huron planning to install a tile drainage system on their agricultural land are eligible for a tile loan. All tile loans have 10-year terms, and repayments are made annually with your property tax installments.

Landowners are eligible for a loan of up to 75% of the value of the tile drainage work, up to $50,000. The provincial government sets the program interest rate. This rate is fixed for the full term of the loan, regardless of changes in market interest rates. Please contact us for a Tile Loan Application Form.

OMAFRA provides the Agricultural Information Atlas where you are able to zoom in to your property and see the random and systematic tile that exists.

Please note that this map is not provided by the Municipality of Central Huron, so if you have any questions about the map or that website, please contact OMAFRA at 1-877-424-1300.

What is a municipal drain?

A municipal drain is constructed to improve the drainage of lands. It is used primarily in rural areas to discharge excess water from the private agricultural tile drainage systems, roadside ditches, residential lots, churches, schools, industrial lands, commercial lands and any other properties. Municipal drains have been part of the local infrastructure since the 1800's. Without these artificial drainage systems in place, many of the Municipality’s rural areas would be flooded on a regular basis causing decreased farm production on the land and increase public health risks.

To learn more about municipal drains and the Drainage Act, view Headway Engineering's Education Centre media library.