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 Effluent Regulatory Reporting Information System (ERRIS) is available online for regulatory reporting.  ERRIS will utilize Environment Canada’s Single Window system where WSER regulatees establish user accounts, manage their organization information and connect to ERRIS. 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 on-line. 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.

Please note that the monitoring report module is now available under the “Reports” section in ERRIS.

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.

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