Sewage Spill Could Cost Toronto Millions
Posted September 20, 2009 12:27 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
The City could be on the hook for millions of dollars for allowing sewage to spill into Lake Ontario during a storm in 2006, according to a published report.
When the precipitation threatened to flood the Ashbridges Bay treatment plant and send the overflow into residential basements, the province’s Ministry of the Environment granted permission to Toronto Water to release partially-treated sewage into the lake for two days.
But when those two days were up, the ministry claims City staff “forgot” to close the bypass gate for three and a half days.
So in 2008, two years after the alleged transgression, the department charged the municipality under the Ontario Water Resources Act.
Because this is a second offence – the City was previously fined $15,000 for sewage that entered the Humber River – fines will range between $50,000 to $10 million a day if the City is convicted.
The City faces a second charge for failing to record the daily flow rate – as much as $500,000 a day.
Both sides will be in court again in November.
