CWWA Sends Letter to the Department of Fisheries and Oceans Regarding Enforcement of the Fisheries Act
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CWWA recently submitted a letter to the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans, asking for more fair and predictable enforcement of the deleterious substance provisions of the Fisheries Act. Recently, several CWWA members have been issued warnings or charges for discharge of a deleterious substance due to releases of chlorinated drinking water.
Recent issues have centered around the release of chlorinated water from drinking water systems into water bodies. Water utilities use chlorine for disinfection of drinking water and for the protection of public health. Provincial drinking water regulations generally mandate a minimum concentration of chlorine in treated and distributed drinking water. Without an amendment to the regulation, the release of any amount of chlorinated water at virtually any chlorine concentration (including that of a typical drinking water) can be considered to be a release of a deleterious substance under Section 36(3) of the Act, whether the release poses an actual risk of harm or not.
This leaves many of our members who operate drinking water systems vulnerable to warnings and even prosecutions under the Act, as the drinking water, which must be treated to meet health regulations is, by definition, a deleterious substance as a result of the mandatory treatment.
In the letter CWWA urged the development of regulations or guidance that would specify a concentration under which chlorine presents no harm to fish populations to give clarity to water utilities discharging to the environment.
The letter is posted to our website at:
http://www.cwwa.ca/pdf_files/Fisheries%20Act_Enforcement_formatted.pdf
