Wastewater

Cleaning up the nation’s largest source of water pollution is a priority. Currently in Canada over 150 billion litres of untreated and undertreated wastewater (sewage) is dumped into our waterways every year. This is an environmental, human health and economic issue.

The Government of Canada worked with the provinces, territories and engaged municipalities, Aboriginal communities and organizations and other interested parties to establish the country’s first national standards for wastewater treatment - the Wastewater Systems Effluent Regulations (the Regulations). 

The Regulations are established under the Fisheries Act and include mandatory minimum effluent quality standards that can be achieved through secondary wastewater treatment. Requirements for monitoring, record-keeping, reporting and toxicity testing are specified in the Regulations.

The May 15, 2013 deadlines to submit an approved identification report and to submit the first quarterly monitoring report (for regulatees subject to quarterly reporting) are now past.

Regulatees are required as per subsection 18(4) of the Regulations to submit identification and other reports electronically in the form and format specified by the Minister of the Environment. Environment Canada has developed the Effluent Regulatory Reporting Information System (ERRIS) under the Single Window System for owners of affected wastewater systems to submit identification reports and on-going effluent monitoring reports. Regulatees will also soon be able use ERRIS to apply for transitional and temporary authorizations and complete other reports related to the WSER.

Please see ERRIS and Single Window web information sessions for the schedule of upcoming web information sessions on ERRIS. The ERRIS Guidance Document is also available by following this link. It provides instructions on how to navigate the Single Window System, as well as step-by-step instructions on how to report under WSER using ERRIS.

For information on the reporting requirements for the Wastewater Systems Effluent Regulations, please consult - Wastewater Systems Effluent Regulations Reporting.