Municipal leaders from across the southern Red River Valley gathered in Morris this week for the Third Annual Red River Basin Commission South Chapter Fundraiser Dinner.

This year's theme, Climate Adaptation - With An Agricultural Perspective, featured Manitoba municipal relations minister Eileen Clarke and Dr. Hank Venema from the Prairie Climate Centre as the guest speakers.

South Chapter board chair Don Wiebe says the issue of climate change is a timely one having come through one of the wetter summers on record.

"With the extreme moisture we experienced this year and given that our weather patterns are changing, we were looking for information on what to expect in the years to come," said Wiebe. "Dr. Venema talked about the challenges that municipalities will face with respect to planning, policy, infrastructure and economic activity."

Municipal leaders were also told that climate change can create opportunities for them when it comes to dealing with issues like drought.

"In that particular scenario, we need to look at watershed issues from a different perspective, things connected to retaining water, changing agricultural practices with respect to drain tile and adjusting the kinds of crops we grow. All of these things are on the table, and the challenge for municipalities is to readjust their policy framework in order to move in that direction."

Wiebe, who also serves as reeve for the Municipality of Rhineland, is encouraged by the willingness of municipalities in this area to talk about ways to better manage water resources and working together to make it happen.

"The conversation has begun by comparing policies with respect to tile drainage and the various tools we need, such as LIDAR, to move forward. LIDAR provides altitude projections of land across a region that municipalities can use to design their drainage and water retention systems more accurately and help minimize the impact of changing weather patterns."

To that end, Rhineland council has engaged the services of a hydrologist to help find solutions to drainage issues in that municipality.

According to Wiebe, "We don't want to migrate our problems to another municipality, so that work is very critical and a tool like LIDAR would help in that direction."