Wastewater

Government of Canada delivers on wastewater rules: proposed regulations released

The Government of Canada has proposed regulations for municipal, community, federal and other wastewater systems, including proposing standards for national wastewater effluent quality. Together, at all levels of government and through the Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment (CCME), we have looked at this issue and have agreed that it is important that we act.

The proposed regulations will phase out the dumping of untreated and undertreated sewage into our waterways and provide clarity for rules on reporting for more than 3,700 Canadian facilities. Canadians can now access the proposed regulations.

The proposed Wastewater System Effluent Regulations were published in Canada Gazette Part 1 in March 2010. Comments were received and we are taking the time to address what we heard. For this reason, we are targeting publishing of the final Wastewater System Effluent Regulations in Canada Gazette Part II in 2012.

The regulations are the principal instrument that Environment Canada is using to implement the CCME Canada-wide Strategy for the Management of Municipal Wastewater that was endorsed in 2009.

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