Regulations Amending the Wastewater Systems Effluent Regulations

Key findings from the strategic environmental assessment (SEA) conducted for the Regulations Amending the Wastewater Systems Effluent Regulations as published in the Canada Gazette.

The Wastewater Systems Effluent Regulations (Regulations) were developed under the Fisheries Act in 2012. The goal of the Regulations is to reduce the threats to fish, fish habitats and human health from fish by decreasing the amount of harmful substances discharged to water frequented by fish. The Regulations delivered on a federal commitment set out in the 2009 Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment Canada-wide Strategy for the Management of Municipal Wastewater Effluent. The Regulations set national minimum effluent quality standards achievable through secondary-level wastewater treatment.

The Regulations Amending the Wastewater Systems Effluent Regulations (the Amended Regulations) support Environment and Climate Change Canada’s (ECCC) mandate to minimize threats to Canadians and their environment from pollution through regulatory development. The amendments focus on two areas of authorization: transitional authorizations and temporary bypass authorizations.

Transitional authorizations

When the Regulations came into force, communities that could not meet the standards could apply for an extension (or transitional authorization) to upgrade their system by 2020, 2030 or 2040 based on the level of risk. Many communities missed the deadline to apply in June 2014 and are in long term non-compliance with no clear path to upgrade. While most wastewater systems meet the standards, approximately 17% of total wastewater volumes are undertreated and released to the environment from wastewater systems that provide little or no treatment.

Through the Amended Regulations communities with wastewater systems that are not designed to meet the effluent limits will have another opportunity to receive a transitional authorization to upgrade their system to meet the standards by 2030 or 2040, the timelines originally intended under the Regulations.

Temporary Bypass Authorizations

The Regulations allow communities to temporarily exceed the effluent limits at the end of their treatment plant (final discharge point) for repairs, maintenance work, and plant upgrades. However, releases from other points in the wastewater infrastructure (e.g., sewer system, pumping stations, overflow points, etc.) are also necessary to undergo maintenance work and these could not be authorized under the Regulations, which limited the oversight of these releases.

Under the Amended Regulations there are new requirements for temporary bypass authorizations for all planned maintenance, construction and upgrade activities occurring within wastewater infrastructure. The new approach is risk-based to improve environmental oversight and transparency, with rigorous requirements for higher risk releases and a streamlined approach for lower risk releases. 

Finally, administrative and operational improvements are proposed throughout the Amended Regulations to simplify regulatory requirements and provide better clarity and flexibility for regulatees.

Anticipated environmental and human health impacts

One of the direct benefits of the Amended Regulations is to provide clear timelines based on the level of risk of the system to plan and finance wastewater system upgrades. The Amended Regulations allow new transitional authorization applications for low and medium risk wastewater systems and provide regulatees with interim facility specific effluent quality limits and a timeline for achieving the national effluent standards. This clarity and enhanced oversight increases the likelihood that wastewater systems are upgraded to meet the standards within the established regulatory timelines, ultimately resulting in improved water quality in the downstream aquatic environment. This benefits all Canadians and industries impacted by wastewater systems that are not meeting the effluent quality standards.

The risk-based approach for evaluating temporary bypass authorizations for releases due to maintenance, construction and upgrade activities provides several benefits. It increases environmental oversight and public transparency, and in the long term aims to reduce the amount of pollutants released into receiving waters across the country. The new approach sets requirements based on level of risk to the environment. It also requires notifications to potentially impacted communities and indigenous peoples and sets timelines to support engagement prior to any large release. Impacts of the release must be mitigated to the greatest extent possible. This provides numerous benefits for Canadians and the environment, including healthier fish and aquatic ecosystems, increased commercial fisheries use, and increased recreational use of waters.

Canadians may be exposed to harmful pollutants through surface water they come in contact with through daily use or recreational activities. The Amended temporary bypass authorizations provide an indirect positive benefit to recreational water users as more stringent measures are required to authorize releases of undertreated wastewater to reduce environmental and human health impacts. ECCC considers potential impacts to recreational water users when evaluating temporary bypass authorization requests. Greater transparency and mandatory public notification for planned releases of undertreated wastewater could have a positive impact on the health and safety of Canadians. The Amended Regulations ensure that there is notification before any planned releases, and that there is full transparency in the details of how and when the release occurs. This allows the public and Indigenous peoples to prepare accordingly, ensure their safety if using waters recreationally, and gives them an opportunity to engage and learn more about the bypass.

As the requirements include mitigation measures and considering alternative options, there may be opportunities if bypasses cannot be avoided, to reduce their duration and/or other means to limit impacts as much as possible. Including monitoring and reporting requirements on high risk releases provides information on the ongoing state of water quality during and after a release. This information assists in determining when short-term impacts have ended and when it is safe for the public to use waters recreationally. It could also provide information and data to help inform the protocol for future releases.

Links to the Federal Sustainable Development Strategy (FSDS) and the United Nations 2030 Agenda

The Amended Regulations contribute to several goals of the 2022 to 2026 Federal Sustainable Development Strategy (FSDS), including Goal 6 - Ensure Clean and Safe Water for all Canadians, Goal 14 - Conserve and Protect Canada’s Oceans, and Goal 15 - Protect and Recover Species, Conserve Canadian Biodiversity. It also supports the United Nations 2030 Agenda and its Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): SDG 3 - Good Health and Well-Being, SDG 6 - Clean Water and Sanitation, and SDG 14 - Life Below Water.

Follow-up, monitoring and reporting

Systems that receive a transitional authorization are required to fulfill compliance obligations including meeting site specific effluent quality limits, annual monitoring and reporting, and submitting progress reports to ECCC every two years. Systems that apply for a temporary bypass authorization must submit detailed information to ECCC about the nature of the bypass and are required to submit a follow-up report describing the results of the bypass (e.g. the actual length of the bypass and the final volumes released). 

Information reported to ECCC from communities that receive these authorizations provides information on the impacts of wastewater systems on their downstream environments, and the effectiveness of the amendments in protecting lake and river ecosystems. This supports the conservation and protection of Canada’s oceans by assisting in determining the cause of impacts from wastewater effluent, to allow wastewater systems to address their environmental impacts, and allows ECCC to have data upon which to base updates to the regulations.

The information includes the number of regulatees that receive temporary and transitional authorizations, a summary of any authorization being assessed, and any authorization issued, and activities undertaken by ECCC with respect to those regulatees in relation to compliance verification and enforcement. A registry of transitional and temporary bypass authorizations is available publicly. In addition, all wastewater systems submit regular monitoring reports to ECCC to determine compliance with the Amended Regulations and ECCC is in regular communication with regulatees. Compliance information submitted by regulatees is made publicly available on an annual basis.

The Industrial Sectors, Chemicals and Waste Directorate at ECCC is responsible for conducting yearly follow-ups. Results of the follow-ups provide the federal government with required information for yearly reporting in ECCC’s Departmental Results Reports and the Annual report to Parliament on the administration and enforcement of the fisheries habitat protection and pollution prevention provisions of the Fisheries Act.

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