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OTTAWA – The city’s sentencing hearing for a massive 2006 sewage spill into the Ottawa River was adjourned Tuesday until late next week.
The municipality has pleaded guilty to two Water Resources Act charges laid after almost a billion litres of raw sewage was spilled into the river in August 2006. The long, slow spill began after a rainstorm, when a gate meant to let an overburdened sewer system dump excess runoff and sewage into the river in emergencies got jammed open.
The charges relate to the spill itself and the city’s failure to report it to the provincial government, as required by law.
At a brief appearance Tuesday, lawyers for the environment ministry and the city said they’d hoped to present an agreed-upon statement of facts and sentencing submission, but the details still have not been worked out.
The two sides are due back in court Oct. 3.
Three city employees, including two senior managers, have been fired as a result of their actions after the spill.
© The Ottawa Citizen 2008