Hamilton Ontario – Canada – 12/1/2004
836769 Ontario Limited has been fined a total of $15,000 ? plus victim fine surcharges ? after pleading guilty to four counts of non-compliance with the Ontario Water Resources Act (OWRA).

836769 Ontario Limited co-owns and operates the Olympia Village Trailer Park in Flamborough, Ontario. The company is authorized, through a certificate of approval (sewage) issued by the Ministry of the Environment (MOE), to operate a sewage works in support of its operations. The certificate of approval sets out a number of conditions with which the trailer park must comply in operating the sewage system.

The court heard that, in May 2003, an inspection of the trailer park site by MOE found that the company was operating the sewage works in a manner that was inconsistent with the conditions and requirements under its certificate of approval. Specifically, the company had failed to: collect and have analyzed samples of effluent for dissolved oxygen content, fecal coliform, total coliform, and chloride; determine the direction of the groundwater flow at the site; keep a complete set of records and drawings of the sewage works on-site; and submit to the ministry an annual performance report for the sewage system. The offences occurred during a period when the company was modernizing its septic and well systems and residents of the trailer park were not on-site.

By operating a sewage works in a manner that was not permitted under its certificate of approval, 836769 Ontario Limited committed four breeches of Section 53(5) of the OWRA. The company pleaded guilty to the four charges, was fined a total of $15,000 and was given six months to pay the fine.

Justice of the Peace Linda Devellano accepted the guilty pleas and fined the company on November 26, 2004 in the Ontario Court of Justice in Hamilton.

Contact: Mark Rabbior
Communications Branch
(416) 314-6084
Ministry of the Environment