Waterloo Region Record

New sewer bylaw tightens limits on contaminants

CATHERINE THOMPSON Catherine Thompson is a Waterloo Region-based reporter focusing on urban affairs for The Record. Reach her via email: cthompson@therecord.com

— A new regional bylaw regulating sewage will better protect the Grand River by setting tighter controls on what can be discharged into sewers.

It’s the first time in more than 30 years that the sewer use bylaw has been updated. The current bylaw was passed in 1990 and has had only a couple of minor amendments since then.

The existing bylaw “has worked for the last 30 years, but it was time to revisit it,” and also an opportunity to bring it in line with new standards set out in a model bylaw from the Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment, said Michael Gordon, the region’s supervisor of environmental enforcement.

The new bylaw “provides enhanced protection” to the region’s waterways and its treatment plants, he said.

The new bylaw tightens the limits for heavy metals and contaminants such as PCBs that are toxic and can bioaccumulate in the food chain. The lower limits better protect the water bodies, such as the Grand, that receive treated effluent from wastewater treatment plants

It also gives the region more powers to enforce the bylaw, by issuing tickets for things like failing to report a spill or obstructing a sewer; and issuing orders to stop an illegal discharge.

Fines for illegal discharges would increase significantly: fines for a first offence for corporations would double to $50,000, while fines for individuals would jump from $5,000 to $50,000.

The only enforcement option in the current bylaw is to take an offender to court.

The new bylaw also boosts the fees for permits that allow industries to discharge excess amounts of substances that wastewater treatment plants can treat. The fees would better reflect the costs of monitoring and enforcement, jumping from $25 to about $1,700, plus the costs of treating the excess discharge.

The new bylaw would be similar to bylaws in Halton, Peel, York and Niagara regions.

Council considers the new bylaw on June 30. If approved, it would go into effect next January.

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2021-06-12T07:00:00.0000000Z

2021-06-12T07:00:00.0000000Z

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