City of Timmins fined $45K for environmental act, other offences

The City of Timmins has been fined more than $56,000 for environmental violations at its Mattagami Water Pollution Control Plant after an inspection.

The City of Timmins has been convicted of one violation under the Ontario Water Resources Act and five violations under the Environmental Protection Act, resulting in a fine of $45,000 plus a victim fine surcharge of $11,250.

The violations relate to the Mattagami Water Pollution Control Plant, a municipal sewage treatment plant located in Timmins, District of Cochrane.

The plant serves a population of approximately 32,000 in the communities of Timmins, Mountjoy and Schumacher. The plant’s effluent is discharged into the Mattagami River.

“In July 2023, the ministry conducted an inspection of the plant and identified several non-compliance issues,” the Ministry of Environment, Conservation and Parks said in a news release.

The plant is supposed to be operated using “a phosphorus removal system, which includes three metering pumps,” the release said.

“However, during the inspection, it was noted that the phosphorus removal system was not in use and that the three metering pumps for the system had been removed.”

The investigation revealed that the metering pumps were removed in June 2018. All three metering pumps were replaced by Dec. 20, 2023.

In addition, there was a bypass event May 1-2, 2023, which required grab samples to be collected on both days. But the city only took the samples May 1.

“The city had been previously warned by the ministry for failing to take grab samples in connection with bypass events,” the ministry said.

“During the inspection, it was determined that an overflow event occurred between Nov. 10-12, 2022. Only one grab sample was collected at the beginning of this overflow event, and samples were not collected every eight hours for the duration of the event as required.”

As well, an inspection revealed a loss of chlorination occurred overnight on Sept. 10, 2022, resulting in the final effluent discharging for eight hours without proper disinfection – but no samples were taken.

“During the loss of disinfection event overnight on Sept. 10, 2022, the disinfection system was not alarmed therefore the on-call operator on duty overnight was unaware of the event,” the release said.

“Loss of disinfection was only identified when operators started the next day shift.”

There were also records missing from Jan. 1 to March 17, 2022. The city said they only keep records for a year, but under provincial legislation, the records are supposed to be kept for five years.

“The ministry’s Environmental Investigations and Enforcement Branch investigated and laid charges which resulted in the convictions,” the release said.

The city has a year to pay the fines.