Municipal Drains | Municipality of Thames Centre

Municipal drains are created under the authority of the Drainage Act.

Most municipal drains are either ditches or closed systems such as pipes or buried tiles. They can also include structures such as dykes or berms, pumping stations, buffer strips, grassed waterways, storm water detention ponds, culverts and bridges. While these drains are primarily found in agricultural areas, they also help remove excess water from roadside ditches, residential lots, commercial properties, industrial sites, and other types of land.

Maintenance and Repairs

Once a municipality passes a by-law, adopting the engineer’s report, a municipal drain becomes a part of that municipality’s infrastructure to maintain and repair.

Landowners have a responsibility for drains located on their properties. If you notice any problems contact the drainage superintendent immediately.

Following any maintenance or repairs, the municipality has the authority to assess the costs to upstream landowners as per the most recent, applicable by-law for the drain.

Depending on the age, design and condition of an existing drain it may be most suitable to submit a “Request for Improvement” form under Section 78 of the Drainage Act. Proceedings for improvements to a drain are similar to a petition for a new drain under Section 4 of the Drainage Act.

How Are Drains Created or Improved?

Municipal drains are created under the Ontario Drainage Act and have 3 stages:

Petition for Drainage Work/Request for Improvement

To initiate a municipal drain project, submit a petition for drainage 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.

Engineers Report

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.

Maintenance

Once the drain has been built, the maintenance becomes part of the Municipality’s infrastructure.

New Drain

Landowners wanting to acquire a drain:

1. Contact Travis Pitt
2. Complete the appropriate Petition form
3. All additional steps can be found under Section 4 of the Drainage Act.

Maintenance on Drains

Maintenance on municipal drains are the most common procedure that occur. This work includes clearing of the drain, such as removal of beavers/dams, trees, repairing/replacing tile, silting and cleaning out tiles.

Drain Maintenance Billing Procedures 2013

In the past, when drain maintenance projects were completed all affected landowners were sent an invoice as an outstanding receivable. If the payment was not received, the outstanding assessment was added to the following years taxes for collection.

In an attempt to streamline the process of billing out Municipal Drainage Maintenance projects, Council has approved the following changes:

Net Assessment under $5.00 are to be written off
Net Assessment under $500.00 are to be added to that years taxes for collection:
Net Assessment over $500.00 will continue to be collected as an outstanding receivable, all affected landowners will receive an invoice together with a map showing the location of where the work was undertaken.

The Collection Debenture Policy is as follows:

Net Assessments under $500.00- no debenture allowed
Net Assessments of $500.00 to $5,000.00 – max. debenture of 5 yrs.
Net Assessments $5,000.00 to $10,000.00 – max. debenture of 10 yrs.
Net Assessments over $10,000.00 – max. debenture of 20 yrs.

Properly Draining a Pool or Hot Tub

For guidance on properly draining a pool or hot tub in Thames Centre please visit our dedicated Properly Draining a Pool or Hot Tub page!