The Agricultural Producers Association of Saskatchewan confirmed to Farms.com it is aware of the situation.
Federal employees do have some authority to conduct these kinds of samples.
Section 48 of the Pest Control Products Act, for example, states an inspector may, “at any reasonable time,” inspect a property where a pest control product is used.
And section 26 of the Canada Water Act allows inspectors onto a property (but not into a house) if the inspector “believes on reasonable grounds” that waste has been added to waters designated as a water quality management area.
The federal environment ministry is looking into at least one incident.
The sampling in Pense occurred last week.
Levi Wood, an area farmer, put out a tweet on Aug. 19 with a photo of a black vehicle with a Government of Canada marking.
“Anyone else see a Government of Canada SUV taking water samples from your dugouts,” he tweeted. “They said they were ‘checking for pesticides.’”
Ministry staff must ensure all work is completed in compliance with proper regulations, a spokesperson said.
Staff “have been collecting samples in water bodies at targeted sites across Canada for Health Canada this year; no nitrates or other nutrients are being sampled as part of these sampling activities,” a ministry statement says. “ECCC is reviewing sampling protocols to ensure they are consistent with area laws before doing any further sampling.