Fisheries Act Violation Details

Details
Published: Tuesday, 20 February 2024 15:31

Message from Mayor, Council & Chief Administrative Officer


Dear Residents,

In December 2023, the Town of Trenton pled guilty to an offence under the federal government’s Fisheries Act. The Town was sentenced on February 15, 2024.

The plea is connected to the Town’s lack of action to address a blocked sewer pipe, discovered in the fall of 2017, which caused the backup of untreated sewage into the Park Road manhole, which then over-flowed through an outfall pipe before discharging into the discharge path leading to Lowden Brook.

The situation was not addressed until January 2020, following a citizen complaint to the federal Department of Environment and Climate Change (ECCC). In response to the results of testing, which indicated the untreated sewage effluent flowing through the pipe constituted a “deleterious substance,” and therefore, a violation of the Fisheries Act, the Town took immediate action, replacing 200 feet of sewage pipe over the course of two days.

There was no indication of environmental harm to the impacted fish habitat as a result of the deposit of the untreated sewage effluent into the Lowden Brook and East River.

While the issue was addressed in January 2020, this matter has just recently been heard by the court. The Town pled guilty to the violation. We have been working with Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) and will fully comply with the terms of our court order. We are focused on meeting the requirements of the order, which includes training, public notification requirements, and testing and reporting requirements.

The Town has three years to pay the fine of $100,000 and at this time it is not expected to have an impact on residents’ taxes, programs, or services.

We acknowledge, and regret, that the appropriate steps were not taken to address this issue at the time it was discovered. We are committed to making sure this does not happen again, through further work on our wastewater and storm water systems. We will provide regular updates on the status of these projects.

Respectfully,

Mayor, Council and CAO

 

Information will be posted here as it becomes available:

 

Reporting Public Works Emergencies

To report Public Works Emergencies (including but not limited to emergencies related to wastewater and storm water systems, water line breaks, leaking water meters, etc.), please contact:

Public Works Superintendent, Darryl Marcott
Available for calls during daytime office hours & for afterhours emergencies.
Tel: 902-752-6907

Town Administration Office
Available for calls Monday to Friday (excluding holidays) - 8:30am to 4:30pm
Tel: 902-752-5311