Accessibility and Access Keys [0]
The City of Ottawa could face up to $72 million in fines for a massive sewage spill in 2006.
The province’s environment ministry (MOE) has charged the city with two offences under the Ontario Water Resources Act in connection with an estimated 1 billion litres of sewage that spilled into the Ottawa River and went unnoticed for two weeks in August 2006.
The ministry’s investigations and enforcement branch laid the charges after an investigation.
“The City of Ottawa has been charged with one count for allegedly causing or permitting the discharge of material, namely sewage, into the Ottawa River that may impair the quality of water, contrary to section 30(1) of the Ontario Water Resources Act during the period of August 4 to August 15, 2006,” a release said Thursday.
FAILURE TO NOTIFY
The city has also been charged with one count of allegedly failing to notify the ministry of the discharge on August 15, 2006, contrary to the Act.
Although the MOE says under the Act, the city faces a potential minimum and maximum fines of $25,000-$6 million for each day or part of a day on which each offence occurred, MOE spokesman John Steele said the largest fine collected by the department in the past 20 years is $1.7 million.
A City of Ottawa employee was fired after he admitted to lying about contacting the MOE about the spill.
In an e-mail to city council, city solicitor Rick O’Connor said Ottawa will appear in Provincial Offences Court on Sept. 11.
“In order to fully review these charges, legal services will be contacting the Crown prosecutor to obtain disclosure on the case against the city,” said O’Connor.
He said the fines the city is facing will vary based on the circumstances of each case.
ASKED FOR BRIEFING
Mayor Larry O’Brien said he’s asked O’Connor to provide council with a briefing on the matter at the Aug. 29 council meeting.
“The recent action by the Ontario Ministry of the Environment regarding the 2006 Ottawa River sewage discharge was expected,” said O’Brien.
Faced with potentially millions of dollars in fines, O’Brien said it won’t detract from the work the city and the other two levels of government must do to improve the discharge of raw sewage into the Ottawa River.
PROTECT WATERWAYS
“We will continue our ongoing capital investments into improving our wastewater treatment and Council looks forward to working with the federal and provincial governments to share the costs associated with protecting our waterways,” he said.
Environment Canada’s enforcement branch is also looking into possible violations under Section 36 of the Fisheries Act, which prohibits the deposit of harmful substances into waterways.
City manager Kent Kirkpatrick launched an investigation into the spill in the spring as did the city’s auditor-general.
Petrie Island Beach, downstream from the spill and three wastewater treatment facilities, was closed 45 times in the summer of 2006 after high levels of E. coli were detected.
(C) Ottawa Sun