MoE takes Rainy River to court

Ken Johnston

The Town of Rainy River will be in court March 3, 2005 facing charges laid by the Ontario Ministry of the Environment last fall.
The charges stem from an inspection by MoE at the Rainy River water treatment plant. John Steele of MoE said the charges are as follows:
•Failure to install meters that monitor PH and water conductivity.
•Failure to maintain chlorine residual levels.
•Failure to sample and test chlorine residuals.
•Failure to set chlorine residual alarms.
•Failure to establish a contingency procedure.
Steele said that there is a minimum level of chlorine residuals required to keep the water safe. He said MoE is alleging that Rainy River failed to maintain those minimum levels. The charge regarding the chlorine residual alarms means that there should have been an alarm set to notify staff when chlorine residuals dropped below minimum requirements.
The charge for failing to establish a contingency procedure refers to the town needing a back up plan to implement should there be a major problem with the town’s water treatment plant.
“Each count can get a maximum fine of $6 million, but rarely are they that high,” said Steele. He noted that Fort Frances was just recently convicted of similar violations and that Timmins is before the courts right now as well. Fort Frances was convicted on January 28, 2005 for Failing to prepare an operating manual and failing to analyze a water sample to a required parameter. They were fined $3,000 and $2,000 respectively.
“While we would not like to have it occur at all, numerous other communities have been convicted on similar counts, even in Southern Ontario,” said Steele.
Since the Walkerton water tragedy a few years ago, Ontario has stepped up vigilance on water safety and has mandatory inspections of every water treatment facility.