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The province’s environment minister says provincial funding will not be renewed for farms that have been using a loophole to get around a provincial moratorium on high capacity wells.

Environment, Water and Climate Change Minister Brad Trivers said this loophole, which has allowed the construction of water holding ponds, will be closed under the newly released regulations of the province’s Water Act.

On Thursday, Brad Trivers tabled the final regulations of the Water Act, legislation that was passed after extensive consultation in 2017. Thursday’s regulations dealt with both low- and high-capacity water wells. These regulations were completed under the direction for the previous environment minister, Richard Brown, but were not publicly released until this week.

Two other sets of regulations, governing well construction and water supply and wastewater treatment regulations, were released by Brown in March.

In a statement, Trivers said the regulations will close a loophole that has allowed some farms to use high-capacity wells.

“Currently, multiple low-capacity wells are being used together to pump high-capacity volumes of water for irrigation,” Trivers told the legislature Thursday.

“Under the new regulations, when multiple low-capacity wells are used together to pump the same volume as a high capacity well, they will be treated as a high capacity well.”

During question period on Friday, Trivers was asked by opposition Green MLA Michele Beaton about holding ponds, including some that have been constructed in the Indian River area. Beaton had attended a tour of holding ponds, organized by the group Vision P.E.I., on Thursday morning. Vision P.E.I. has been a critic of large-scale farming operations managed or owned by the Irving company.

Trivers stated there are roughly 19 holding ponds on P.E.I., but he said his department had not previously been tracking them.

“It’s public perception, and there’s a lot of reality to that, that these holding ponds are built really to skirt the high-capacity well moratorium by combining low-capacity wells acting like high-capacity wells and filling a holding pond,” Trivers said.

Beaton then noted provincial funds had been awarded for construction of the ponds, and that Trivers had indicated the province planned to cut funding to these projects.

“Could you please tell me when this government will officially cancel the program?” Beaton asked Trivers.

“In some cases there is funding that’s provided to farmers that may be applied to holding ponds, and we are going to stop that funding as soon as possible,” Trivers said.

The province’s Agriculture Minister Bloyce Thompson also addressed Beaton, stating that funding for the ponds was dispersed through the Canadian Agriculture Partnership program, a partnership between the provincial and federal governments.

“It’s reviewed every year. So that will come in a review now and there will be no more funding going forward because of the announcement yesterday,” Thompson said.

Public consultations will be held of the new regulations over the summer months, before the Water Act comes into effect. Online consultations have begun and information on the regulations can be found at princeedwardisland.ca/wateract.

Trivers said the release of the regulations should allow the full Water Act to be proclaimed in the fall.

Stu.neatby@theguardian.pe.ca

Twitter.com/stu_neatby