CAYUGA ON (3/29/2012) – On March 7, 2012, Veolia Water Canada Inc. pleaded guilty to one violation under the Ontario Water Resources Act for a discharge of commercial fertilizer which had the potential to impair the Dry Creek watercourse.

The Court heard that the company manufactures commercial fertilizer pellets from secondary sewage sludge. During the winter months when the pellets are not being applied to land, the company stores them in agricultural storage bags at various sites. In 2010, the company was leasing part of a site located in Haldimand County. The Dry Creek borders this property and a slope on the site drains into the creek. In January 2010, a provincial officer attended the site and observed pellets on the ground in the work area around the storage bags. The creek was flooded and some of the pellets at the bottom of the slope were soaking in its waters. Pellets further up the slope were also saturated from recent precipitation.

The company was charged following an investigation by the ministry’s Investigations and Enforcement Branch.

The company was fined $70,000 plus a victim fine surcharge and was given sixty days to pay the fine.

Contact: Kate Jordan, Communications Branch, (416) 314-6666