Rural Water Quality Program

As a rural landowner, you can help improve water quality in Haldimand County through the Rural Water Quality Program (RWQP).

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About the program

The program offers grant funding to eligible landowners to cost-share for voluntary projects that help improve water quality. The program is funded by Haldimand County and administered and delivered by local Conservation Authorities.

Water is a shared resource and the responsibility to improve and protect water is shared by all water
users. The Haldimand Rural Water Quality Program provides financial assistance to rural landowners in
Haldimand County for implementing measures to improve and protect water quality.

The following principles were used to design the Rural Water Quality Program:

  • Provide financial incentives to rural landowners contributing to improved surface water and
    groundwater quality by implementing a broad range of Best Management Practices (BMPs).
  • Achieve some water quality improvement/protection on many properties rather than on focusing
    on a higher level of improvement on a few properties.
  • Develop a positive attitude in the farm community that will continue to foster the adoption of
    BMPs.
  • Reasonable effort should be made to ensure that projects are cost effective and the one with which
    the property owner feels satisfied.
  • As a voluntary program it is up to the applicant to decide which practices to propose and seek
    RWQP funding for.
  • The RWQP has limited funding, therefore all eligible applications may not receive equal funding. It
    may be necessary to prioritize projects based on their potential to improve water quality to
    maximize the benefits derived from limited funds.
  • Decisions on eligible projects will be made in accordance with any guideline documents prepared
    for the program.
  • Funding decisions will be made by a Review Committee that includes representation from the
    agricultural community.
  • Project applications are presented to the Review Committee in a format that does not reveal, to the
    extent reasonably possible, the identity of the grant applicant.
  • The program will be delivered by staff from the Grand River Conservation Authority (GRCA), Long
    Point Region Conservation Authority (LPRCA), and Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority (NPCA)
    in the portion of Haldimand County within their watershed.

How does it work?

Before a RWQP project, applicants are required to attend an Environmental Farm Plan workshop (EFP), either in-person or virtually, and complete the worksheets applicable to their farming operation. The EFP is a self-assessment of your farm operation from an environmental perspective.

The goal of the EFP is to raise awareness of potential environmental concerns you may not have considered, and supports the intended program benefit of improving and protecting local water quality.

The EFP is delivered locally by the Ontario Soil and Crop Improvement Association in partnership with the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs. For details and workshop dates, visit www.ontariosoilcrop.org.

The EFP must be completed before grant payment, but it may be done after your application is approved.

Application process

  1. Contact a local Conservation Authority for assistance in planning your project and applying to the program.
  2. Submit your application directly to the Conservation Authority for review. The review committee consists of the Haldimand County Agricultural Advisory Committee and Conservation Authority agency staff who will evaluate your project on its potential to protect and improve water quality.
  3. If your project is approved, you’ll be notified to proceed.
  4. When the project is completed and paid for, notify the Conservation Authority to arrange a site inspection and submit your original invoices marked paid and proof of payment (such as an invoice signed “paid in full” by the contractor, a copy of the front and back of cancelled cheques or a bank statement) for all eligible project expenses.
  5. Within 5 weeks of a site inspection that determines the work is complete and satisfactory, your cost-share payment will be sent to you.

Projects eligible for funding

Purpose: to improve surface water quality by controlling livestock access to watercourses.

Eligible projects include:

  • Fencing along watercourses/wetlands
  • Livestock crossings
  • Alternative watering devices

Cost-share rate

  • 50% if combined with other funding
  • 75% of labour and materials if only funded through RWQP
  • 100% of materials if only funded through RWQP and the landowner provides labour

Maximum payment: $5,000 per farm

Purpose: to control soil erosion problems on farmland and watercourses that impact surface water quality.

Eligible projects include:

  • Structures such as grass waterways, water and sediment control basins, terraces, drop structures, and vegetation strips
  • Streambank stabilization including ditch bank seeding, spillway drop structures, culvert protection, and bioengineering techniques
  • Associated tile inlet and outlet structures
  • Improvements to existing stream crossings for machinery

Cost-share rate

  • 50% either with combined funding or solely through RWQP

Maximum payment: $5,000 per farm

Purpose: to improve water quality by retiring fragile agricultural land into appropriate native species.

Eligible projects include:

  • Planting of appropriate native species including prairie vegetation and tree/shrub species on retired fragile agricultural land such as floodplains, steeply sloped and erosion-prone land
  • Planting/seeding buffer areas along watercourses and wetlands
  • Tree windbreak establishment to prevent wind erosion

Cost-share rate

  • 30% if combined with other funding
  • 80% if only funded through RWQP

Maximum payment: $5,000 per farm

Purpose: to implement living snow fences in Haldimand County priority areas.

All projects must be approved as a priority area by our Roads Operations division before you can submit a living snow fence project to the review committee.

View the GRCA’s video on living snow fences for information on how they help.

Cost-share rate

  • 100% either with combined funding or solely through RWQP

Maximum payment: $5,000

Purpose: to prevent groundwater contamination from improperly abandoned or unused water wells by encouraging proper plugging.

Eligible projects include:

  • Proper plugging of unused water wells (dug, bored or drilled) by a licensed well contractor

Cost-share rate

  • 50% if combined with other funding
  • 100% if only funded through RWQP

Maximum payment: $1,000 per well

Purpose: to control sediment, nutrients and elevated flows from agricultural runoff, while increasing and promoting wildlife habitats.

Eligible projects include:

  • Berms with culverts, control structures, and overflow spillways located between field runoff and natural habitat downslope (watercourse, wooded ravine, etc.)
  • Dugouts excavated between field runoff and natural habitat downslope

Please note that berms or dugouts that do not catch and store surface runoff from agricultural fields are not eligible for the program.

Cost-share rate

  • 50% either with combined funding or solely through RWQP

Maximum payment: $5,000 per farm

Purpose: to promote the establishment and over-wintering of cover crops (living or dead), which help provide soil protection and reduce soil erosion to watercourses.

Eligible projects include:

  • Crops that are grown for the purpose of providing cover in the winter. Crops grown for harvest are excluded (e.g. winter cereals)
  • Grazed cover crops will be considered on a case-by-case basis. Where approved, the funding will be 50% of the cost-share rate.

Cost-share rate

  • $20 per acre

Maximum payment: $1,500 per farm operation

Purpose: to promote the application of crop nutrients at the proper rate, time and place from appropriate sources to support crop productivity and minimize potential contamination of ground and surface water.

Eligible projects include:

  • Soil sampling and analysis with fertility recommendations
  • Additional micronutrient and/or particle size analysis in combination with standard soil analysis packages

Cost-share rate

  • 75% either with combined funding or solely through RWQP

Maximum payment: $1,000 per farm operation

Purpose: to encourage the most effective use of available nutrient resources, optimize yields, and protect groundwater and surface water.

Eligible projects include:

  • A voluntary 3-year Nutrient Management Plan (NMP) created using Ontario’s AgriSuite platform. 

Cost-share rate

  • 75-100% either with combined funding or solely through RWQP

Maximum payment: $2,000 per farm operation

Purpose: to encourage the most effective use of available nutrient resources, optimize yields, and protect groundwater and surface water on cropping operations without livestock housing.

Eligible projects include:

  • A written crop nutrient plan covering at least one full crop rotation and a minimum of three year that describes the timing, source, placement and rates of all applied nutrients.

Cost-share rate

  • 75% either with combined funding or solely through RWQP

Maximum payment: $2,000 per farm operation

Conservation Authorities

Contact the Rural Water Quality Program representative at your local Conservation Authority for help planning your project and submitting an application. Local Conservation authorities may also be able to assist in connecting landowners to other programs and opportunities.

Grand River Conservation Authority

Long Point Region Conservation Authority

Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority

Program stats

(As of August 2025)

Since its launch in 2012, the Rural Water Quality Program has supported local farmers and landowners in implementing projects making an impact in our community.

Total completed projects: 112
Total grants disbursed: $216,058
Total completed project costs: $886,497

Number of approved projects:

  • Cover Crops: 23  
  • Crop Nutrient Plan: 1  
  • Erosion Control: 4  
  • Innovative Projects: 3  
  • Livestock Access Restriction: 11  
  • Living Snow Fence: 3  
  • Natural Area Restoration: 8  
  • Tree Planting: 51  
  • Tree Planting Infill: 1  
  • Wellhead Abandonment: 7

Contact Us

Economic Development & Tourism
53 Thorburn Street South
Cayuga, Ontario
Canada, N0A 1E0

Email Economic Development & Tourism
Phone: 905-318-5932 ext. 6389
Phone: 1-800-863-9607