US EPA working on standards for gas fracking water
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has announced a schedule to develop standards for wastewater discharges produced by natural gas extraction from underground coal bed and shale formations (“fracking”).
View the post titled US EPA working on standards for gas fracking waterBanning sludge spreading?
The Québec Court of Appeal has struck down a municipal bylaw banning the spreading of sludge, on the ground that it exceeds the municipality’s jurisdiction.
View the post titled Banning sludge spreading?Hide and seek with bylaws
The Internet has been an enormous boon to those needing to keep up with municipal bylaws. Instead of the old process of sending a student down to City Hall, now we just access the city’s website. But it turns out that municipalities have as much trouble keeping their websites up-to-da…
View the post titled Hide and seek with bylawsToronto fined $150,000 for sewage spill
The City of Toronto pled guilty to one violation under the Ontario Water Resources Act foroperating its sewage works in not accordance with its Certificate of Approval. It was fined $150,000 plus the victim fine surcharge.
View the post titled Toronto fined $150,000 for sewage spillLegal wastewater samples
Samples that are not properly taken, recorded, handled and analyzed are useless in court, and can lead to unjustified enforcement proceedings. The Canadian Water and Wastewater Association has released a useful Guideline on Sampling, Handling, Transporting, and Analyzing Legal Wastewater Sam…
View the post titled Legal wastewater samplesPharmaceuticals, drinking water, and liability
The better our detection ability becomes, the more things we find in the water. One important group of those things is pharmaceuticals and their metabolites. Pharmaceuticals are specifically designed to affect the bodies, brains and behaviour of humans and other animals, at comparatively low…
View the post titled Pharmaceuticals, drinking water, and liabilityKeeping septic systems working
Septic systems don’t run by themselves. They need regular inspections, cleaning and maintenance, or they break down and leak raw sewage. It is therefore somewhat amazing that only last summer was the Building Code (O. Reg 350/06) amended (by O. Reg. 315/10) to require such regular inspection…
View the post titled Keeping septic systems workingCompost fines
On August 20, 2010, Compost Niagara Inc. was fined a total of $42,000 for five violations under the Environmental Protection Act and the Ontario Water Resources Act. The charges relate to their failure to comply with their waste and sewage works certificates of approval, and to altering a s…
View the post titled Compost finesSewage, Environment Canada and surprising statistics
According to Environment Canada, people in Nova Scotia are willing to pay much more for sewage treatment than other Canadians. To justify the multi-billion dollar cost of the new Wastewater Systems Effluent Regulations under the Fisheries Act, Environment Canada has produced a table full of …
View the post titled Sewage, Environment Canada and surprising statisticsWastewater billions
Environment Canada is of the view that the ...proposed regulations are affordable if all jurisdictions make wastewater funding a priority….
View the post titled Wastewater billionsReceive Blog Posts
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