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OTTAWA – The City of Ottawa could be fined tens of millions of dollars next week after pleading guilty to dumping close to one billion litres of raw sewage into the Ottawa River and failing to report it.
At a court hearing Friday, lawyers for the city and the Ontario Environment Ministry agreed to a statement of facts on the August 2006 spill.
But the two sides are continuing a discussion on the appropriate punishment and could make a sentencing submission to the court Oct. 10.
The fines for the spill range from $25,000 a day to $6 million a day.
For the 12-day period of the spill, the city faces a fine of between $300,000 and $72 million.
The charges relate to the 764 million litres of sewage that were unlawfully discharged. Overall, the city dumped 960 million litres of sewage into the river, but the law allows a certain grace period for accidents.
The spill happened when a gate meant to regulate the flow of sewage during bad storms jammed open and went undetected for days, city engineers have said.
The city has already agreed to give $50,000 to Ottawa River Keeper, an organization that monitors the river to ensure it is kept clean.
Meredith Brown, the executive director of the organization, said she is pleased the massive spill has been taken seriously enough to end up in court.
Brown said she doesn’t believe the maximum fine will be imposed, but whatever amount the city has to pay will send a message that the river is not a dumping ground.
“For me what’s important is that the river is receiving the protection of the law,” Brown said.
“A fine is really important because it makes the city accountable for the pollution. It says that you can’t just dump anything into the river.”
City lawyer Stuart Huxley said by pleading guilty, the city is taking ownership of the problem and from now on, is determined to make sure such incidents don’t happen again.
© Ottawa Citizen 2008