Can fill be placed near a tidal river in Moncton?

Placing fill near a tidal river in Moncton is tightly controlled by the province's Watercourse and Wetland Alteration (WAWA) rules, and the short answer is: you need a permit before any fill, machine or ground disturbance goes within 30 metres of that watercourse. Doing the work without one is illegal under provincial law.

What the WAWA Rule Means Here

The 30 metres is measured horizontally from the top of the bank, in the field, not from a map. A tidal river is a watercourse, so the full rule applies. The province's list of controlled activities includes depositing or removing fill, sand, gravel or rock, operating heavy machinery, disturbing ground and clearing trees, all within that 30-metre zone. The permit fee is $25 for a single alteration. The province's development guidelines also say that infill to raise the grade is not permitted within 30 metres of a flood-prone or tidal watercourse, which is a harder limit than the general WAWA permit process. A WAWA permit does not exempt you from any other rule, and local City of Moncton by-laws may add their own setbacks, so check with the City's planning department before drawing up a plan.

Before any machine moves on this site, you also need locates. Info-Excavation, reached through Click Before You Dig, requires three working days' notice; the locate is valid until the end date written on the request. NB Power runs its own separate underground locate service and asks for at least five business days' notice; that locate is valid for 60 days from the date on the NB Power form and covers only NB Power-owned lines. Private lines, drains or buried tanks that a past owner installed are yours to find and mark. Whether Info-Excavation covers municipal water and sewer lines in Moncton is something to confirm directly with the City.

If this fill is connected to a new building, the City of Moncton requires a building and development permit, and Regulation 2021-2 under the Building Code Administration Act requires a footing and foundation inspection before any backfilling begins. Ask the City's building department how to book that inspection.

When you get quotes, ask each contractor:

• Who prepares the WAWA application (the permit usually goes to the landowner; an agent needs a landowner consent form)
• How rock or hard material encountered during site preparation is priced (hourly with a hydraulic breaker runs $200 to $300 per hour, based on published price guides read in September 2026)
• Where the spoil or displaced material goes and whether trucking is included
• For a WorkSafeNB clearance certificate confirming they are in good standing with their workers' compensation account

We found no provincial excavation-contractor licence, so credentials are yours to check directly with anyone you hire. Under the Construction Remedies Act, hold back 10% of the contract price for 60 days after the certificate of substantial performance is signed.

Before you accept any quote, ask the contractor exactly how they price spoil removal and haul distance, because that line is where a fill job near water can run over budget.