WSER 2016 Annual Report

2.0 WSER Reporting

Owners or operators of wastewater systems are required to submit an identification report and regular effluent monitoring reports. For those with combined sewers, combined sewer overflow reports must also be submitted. The following sections provide more information on these reports and a summary of the data submitted to Environment and Climate Change Canada.

2.1 Identification Reports

Owners or operators of existing wastewater systems subject to the WSER were required to submit an identification report to Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) by May 15, 2013. New wastewater systems must submit an identification report within 45 days after the wastewater system comes into operation. Identification reports include information on the system owner, type of treatment, operational details and location of discharge points.

This section provides a status of the number of identification reports submitted by the end of 2016 as well as a breakdown of wastewater systems by ownership and treatment type.

2.1.1 Summary for the Submission of Identification Reports

As of the end of 2016, 1737 identification reports had been submitted out of an estimated total of 2314 wastewater systems. Table 1 presents the number of submitted identification reports and the estimated number of those missing by province and territory. This includes the wastewater systems covered under the equivalency agreement with Yukon.

In 2016, Quebec had the highest number of missing identification reports. The low rate of submission of identification reports may be the result of the publication of a proposed equivalency agreement, which, when finalized, would result in the WSER not applying to the majority of wastewater systems in the provinceFootnote 5.

Table 1. Identification reports submitted under the WSER and estimated number of systems who are missing an identification report by the end of 2016 by province and territory

Province

Submitted

Missing

Total

Alberta

157

43

200

British Columbia

144

6

150

Manitoba

127

61

188

New Brunswick

125

1

126

Newfoundland and Labrador

133

31

164

Nova Scotia

110

21

131

Ontario

442

21

463

Prince Edward Island

29

1

30

Quebec

400

356

756

Saskatchewan

67

36

103

Yukon

3

0

3

Total

1737

577

2314

2.1.2 Overview of Wastewater Systems with Identification Reports

Table 2 shows the number of wastewater systems reporting by the end of 2016 by owner type as indicated in the identification reports. The vast majority of wastewater systems in Canada that are subject to the WSER are owned by municipalities and other local authorities, such as regional governments (89% of systems that submitted identification reports). Indigenous communities also own or operate a large number of wastewater systems, representing 7% of the submitted identification reports. The remaining systems are owned or operated by federal authorities or owners falling into the “other” category.

Wastewater systems owned by private companies are classified in the “other” category. Private companies may own wastewater systems that serve municipalities, camps, or recreational areas.

Table 2. Identification reports submitted by owner type

Owner Type

Number of Submitted Identification Reports

Aboriginal

118

Federal

25

Municipal or another local authority

1539

Other

32

Provincial

23

Total

1737

2.1.3 Wastewater Treatment Type

Based on information reported, wastewater systems were divided into three categories:

Table 3 provides a summary of the number of wastewater systems by treatment types and by province and territory. The most common type of wastewater system in Canada is lagoon (56%), followed by mechanical (34%), with the remaining systems (10%) depositing untreated effluent. Wastewater systems with no treatment are found in Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, British Columbia and Quebec; some of which have transitional authorizations under the WSER.

Table 3. Summary of the number of wastewater systems by treatment type and by province and territory

Province

Mechanical

Lagoons

No Treatment

Total

Alberta

37

120

0

157

British Columbia

67

59

18

144

Manitoba

23

104

0

127

New Brunswick

23

102

0

125

Newfoundland and Labrador

17

9

107

133

Nova Scotia

49

28

33

110

Ontario

292

150

0

442

Prince Edward Island

6

23

0

29

Quebec

68

322

10

400

Saskatchewan

9

58

0

67

Yukon

1

2

0

3

Total

592

977

168

1737

2.2 Effluent Monitoring Report Summary

Effluent monitoring reports are submitted either annually or quarterly, depending on both the volume of effluent discharged by the wastewater system and whether the system discharges continuously or intermittently as prescribed in the WSER. The information found in the monitoring reports includes:

Of the 1737 systems that submitted identification reports by the end of 2016,1377 of these systems submitted all effluent monitoring reports.

Table 4. Summary of status of effluent monitoring reports for 2016 by province and territory

Province

Percent of Systems that Submitted all Reports (%)

Number of Systems Missing One or More Reports Number of Systems Submitted all Reports

Alberta

82

28

129

British Columbia

90

15

129

Manitoba

62

48

79

New Brunswick

96

5

120

Newfoundland and Labrador

41

78

55

Nova Scotia

90

11

99

Ontario

96

18

424

Prince Edward Island

83

5

24

Quebec

64

144

256

Saskatchewan

88

8

59

Yukon

100

0

3

Total

79

360

1377

2.2.1 CBOD and Suspended Solid “SS” Test Results

Table 5 below shows the number of systems broken down by province that exceeded the CBOD and suspended solid limits of 25 mg/L under the WSER along with the total number of systems with exceedances and the total number of systems that met the standards. Some systems exceeded both the standards for CBOD and suspended solids.  Systems are labelled as exceeding the effluent quality standards if there is at least one reported exceedance in any of the reporting periods in the calendar year. Overall, 76% of wastewater systems who submitted a monitoring report met the WSER effluent quality standards during all periods reported in 2016.

Figure 1 presents the breakdown of systems that met and exceeded the effluent quality standards by treatment type.The majority of reported exceedances came from wastewater systems with no treatment followed by lagoons. For a more detailed breakdown, please see Supplemetary Data Table 1 and Supplementary Data Table 2 in Annex 4.3.

Overall, wastewater systems had greater difficulties meeting suspended solids compared to CBOD with 274 systems exceeding suspended solids and 174 systems exceeding CBOD. The larger number of suspended solids exceedances can largely be attributed to lagoon systems. A total of 117 lagoon systems reported exceedances of suspendend solids compared to 35 which reported exceedances of CBOD. 

Wastewater systems that received transitional authorizations under the WSER are not included in the effluent monitoring statistics. These systems are not required to achieve the WSER effluent quality standards until the deadline set in the transitional authorizations (refer to section 3.1).

Table 5. Summary of CBOD and SS results in 2016, by province and territory

Province

Number of Systems with CBOD Exceedances

Number of Systems with SS Exceedences

Number of  Systems with Exceedances*

Number of Systems with No Exceedances

Alberta

4

12

16

125

British Columbia

17

23

32

97

Manitoba

7

23

25

70

New Brunswick

8

17

19

101

Newfoundland and Labrador

97

101

123

14

Nova Scotia

12

22

44

58

Ontario

8

19

23

411

Prince Edward Island

1

4

4

21

Quebec

13

38

43

230

Saskatchewan

5

17

20

40

Yukon

1

1

1

2

Total

173

277

350

1169

* This represents the total number of systems that had either CBOD or SS exceedances. Some systems had both CBOD and SS exceedances.

Figure 1. Summary of CBOD and SS results in 2016 for wastewater systems in Canada by treatment type

Bar chart of effluent monitoring results
Figure 1 - Text version

Meets WSER

  CBOD Suspended solids
Mechanical 505 487
Lagoons 742 660

Exceeded WSER

  CBOD Suspended solids
Mechanical 45 63
Lagoon 35 117
No treatment 94 96

2.2.2  Acute Lethality Testing Results

The WSER require that wastewater systems discharge an effluent that is not acutely lethal. For the purposes of the WSER, “acute lethality” means that the effluent at 100% concentration kills more than 50% of the rainbow trout subjected to it during a 96-hour periodFootnote 6.

Under the WSER, owners or operators of wastewater systems discharging annual average daily effluent volumes greater than 2 500 m3 are required to determine and report on the acute lethality of the effluent. Table 6 and figure 2 summarize the results of the acute lethality tests performed in 2016.  

A total of 491 wastewater systems tested for acute lethality in 2016, with 83% of systems passing all acute lethality tests. Of the systems reporting an acute lethality test failure, 61% were lagoon systems, 37% were mechanical systems, and the remaining 2% coming from systems with no treatment. For a more detailed breakdown of acute lethality test results by province please see Supplementary Data Table 3 in the Annex section 4.3.

Table 6. Summary of reported acute lethality test results, by province

Province

Number of Systems with Failures

Number of Systems with No Failures

Alberta

9

40

British Columbia

1

43

Manitoba

4

15

New Brunswick

4

23

Newfoundland and Labrador

4

5

Nova Scotia

4

18

Ontario

12

169

Prince Edward Island

1

3

Quebec

42

79

Saskatchewan

4

11

Yukon*

0

0

Total

85

406

* Yukon is not required to submit acute lethality data under the equivalency agreement

Figure 2. Reported acute lethality test results in Canada by treatment type in 2016.

Bar chart of acute lethality test results
Figure 2 - Text version
  At least one test failure No test failures
Mechanical 31 257
Lagoons 52 147
No treatment 2 2

2.2.3  Total Effluent Volumes

Wastewater systems are required to monitor and report their effluent flows at the final discharge point under the WSER.

Figure 3 demonstrates the total reported effluent volume discharged via the final discharge point, by province and territory. These volumes do not include discharges of wastewater from combined sewer overflow points.

A total volume of 5,189 million m3 of effluent was reported as being discharged from the final discharge point. Quebec reported the highest volume of effluent at 1,845 million m3 (35%). Ontario reported the second highest volume at 1, 794 million m3 (34%) followed by British Columbia at 627 million m3 (12%) and Alberta at 348 million m3 (7%). The remaining provinces and Yukon each deposit less than 5% of the total effluent deposited.

Figure 3. Total reported effluent volume (million m3) by province and territory.

Pie chart of total effluent volumes by province
Figure 3 - Text version
Province/Territory Volume in million cubic metres
Percentage of Canadian total
Alberta 348 7%
British Columbia 627 12%
Manitoba 149 3%
New Brunswick 103 2%
Newfoundland and Labrador 91 2%
Nova Scotia 144 3%
Ontario 1794 34%
Prince Edward Island 14 <1%
Quebec 1845 35%
Saskatachewan 89 8%
Yukon 4 <1%

2.2.4  Effluent Volumes Discharged by Treatment Level

Table 7 shows the volume effluent discharged from the final discharge point of wastewater systems in 2016 broken down by effluent quality for each province. Wastewater effluent is identified as either undergoing “No Treatment”, being “Undertreated”, or “Meets WSER” effluent quality standards as defined below:

Overall, 66% of the reported total volume of effluent that was deposited across Canada  met the WSER effluent quality standards.

Undertreated effluent represents 33% of the reporting effluent volume deposited.

Untreated wastewater represent 1% of the total effluent deposited in Canada. Undertreated and untreated effluent is mainly discharged from coastal areas or large water bodies in British Columbia, Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, and Quebec.

Table 7. Summary of effluent deposited by treatment level, by province in millions m3 for the year 2016

Province

Total Volume of Untreated Effluent

Total Volume of Undertreated Effluent

Total Volume of Effluent that Met WSER

Total Volume of Effluent Deposited

Alberta

-

11

337

347

British Columbia

35

260

332

627

Manitoba

-

60

88

148

New Brunswick

-

31

72

103

Newfoundland and Labrador

23

60

8

91

Nova Scotia

16

77

49

143

Ontario

-

104

1, 690

1, 794

Prince Edward Island

-

1

13

14

Quebec

1

1, 074

767

1, 843

Saskatchewan

-

17

72

89

Total

76

1, 695

3, 428

5, 198

2.3      Combined Sewer Overflow Reports

Many older municipalities in Canada have combined sewers that collect both stormwater and wastewater. Combined sewers are designed to discharge untreated wastewater when the volume collected exceeds the capacity of the system due to heavy rainfall or snowmelt. The WSER require owners or operators of wastewater systems with combined sewers to submit an annual report on the total volume and the number of days wastewater is discharged per month via combined sewer overflow (CSO) points as a result of precipitation.

2.3.1   Wastewater systems with CSO Points

The following table presents the number of wastewater systems in each province that have at least one CSO point. There are a total of 269 systems that reported having at least one CSO point. Two thirds of the systems that identified CSO points in Canada are located in Quebec. Ontario also has a significant number of systems with CSO points (16%).

Table 8. Number of combined sewer systems, by province and territory

Province

Number of Systems

Alberta

1

British Columbia

5

Manitoba

3

New Brunswick

17

Newfoundland and Labrador

3

Nova Scotia

16

Ontario

44

Prince Edward Island

1

Quebec

178

Saskatchewan

1

Total

269

A complete list of the 269 wastewater systems that reported having a combined sewer system can be found in Annex 4.2.

2.3.2  CSO Points and Volume by Province and Territory

Combined sewer systems have multiple points at which the combined sewer can overflow, discharging untreated wastewater. Systems must identify each individual point where a CSO can occur in their identification report, and must report annual volumes from each of these points.

Figure 4 presents the total reported number of CSO points in each province and the total report volume of untreated wastewater discharged from these points in 2016. There are a total of 2,969 CSO points in Canada. As Quebec has the majority of combined sewer systems, it also has the most CSO points in Canada (61%) followed by Ontario (24%), New Brunswick (5%), Nova Scotia (3%), Manitoba (3%) and British Columbia (2%). The total reported volume nationally is 120 million m3. Of the reported volumes, British Columbia is responsible for the highest volume of untreated effluent discharged from CSO points (38%). Nova Scotia and Quebec each reported 16% of the volume discharged by CSOs. The remaining volume of effluent discharged by CSOs come from Alberta, Manitoba, Ontario, and Prince Edward Island, each discharging less than 10% of the national total.

Figure 4. Number of CSO points and total volume of CSO effluent discharged by province and territory

Bar chart of combined sewer volumes and number of combined sewer points
Figure 4 - Text version
Province/Territory Number of CSO points
Volume of CSO Effluent (in million cubic metres)
Alberta 18 6
British Columbia 46 45
Manitoba 89 9
New Brunswick 156 13
Newfoundland and Labrador 11 0
Nova Scotia 93 19
Ontario 725 8
Prince Edward Island 1 0.4
Quebec 1829 19
Saskatachewan 1 0
Yukon
0 0

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