Tories plan raw-sewage crackdown
OTTAWA — The Harper government is proceeding with plans to crack down on nearly 150 billion litres of raw sewage dumped every year into Canadian waterways — considered to be a threat to both human and environmental health.
“By ending the practice of dumping raw sewage into our rivers, lakes and oceans, we will improve the health of communities living along waterways, protect our marine life, including our commercial shellfish fisheries, and ensure Canada’s water is protected for future generations,” said Adam Sweet, a spokesperson for Environment Minister Peter Kent.
“This will help make our beaches and recreational waterways safer and will help reduce the burden on our drinking water treatment systems.”
Following his appointment as federal environment minister in January 2011, Kent was told by bureaucrats in briefing notes that untreated sewage from municipal systems was one of the largest sources of pollution in Canadian waters, with negative effects observed over 20 years on drinking water, swimming areas, fish and wildlife populations and commercial fishing industries.
At the time, Environment Canada told Kent it was “targeting” the spring of 2011 to finalize the regulations, first introduced in draft form in March 2010. But the government has repeatedly pushed back the adoption of a final plan ever since, explaining that it needed more time to get the details right.
The government also was warned by the provinces and territories that taxpayers could wind up paying the multi-billion dollar bill for the new regulations.
“Communities do not currently have the resources to meet all requirements and without this flexibility, further financial challenges are created,” wrote former New Brunswick minister of local government Chris Collins in a letter sent on behalf of all of his provincial and territorial counterparts to Kent’s predecessor, Jim Prentice, on Sept 20, 2010.
Environment Canada estimated in previously released briefing notes from 2006 that cities would need up to $20 billion over two decades to bring municipal waste water systems up to standard to address threats to environmental and human health.
But the federal government has indicated it would give cities with systems considered to be at high risk about 10 years to meet the regulations, while others at lower levels of risk would have 20 or 30 years to bring their system up to the new standard to help them spread out the costs.