Accused of discharging partially treated sewage into Ashbridges Bay for five days following heavy rainstorm

The City of Toronto faces serious charges for a sewage spill into Lake Ontario – more evidence, community activists say, of the city’s failure to get serious about separating its sanitary and storm sewers.

The city is charged under the Ontario Water Resource Act for allegedly discharging partially treated sewage from its Ashbridges Bay treatment plant for five days following a heavy rainstorm on Nov. 30, 2006.

Under its certificate of approval from Ontario’s environment ministry, the plant was authorized to bypass the full treatment process for two days to prevent flooding, but the “unplanned discharge” continued for three more days, said spokeswoman Kate Jordan.

Because it’s considered a second offence – the city was convicted in 2007 for a sewage spill in the Humber River after a sewer main break – Toronto taxpayers may have to pony up for fines that range from $150,000 to $30-million.

Another charge relates to the city’s alleged failure to record its daily sewage flow rate as required by the ministry.

The charges were filed in November, 2008, after a lengthy investigation. There have been four court dates since and a pretrial hearing is scheduled for Oct. 20, Ms. Jordan said.

Lou Di Geronimo, general manager of Toronto Water, was not available for comment yesterday. “The City will defend itself vigorously against the charges,” said spokesman Rob Andrusevich.

Partially treated sewage, in which solids have been removed from the waste water, has been legally released by Ashbridges Bay on 11 occasions so far this year.

It’s a problem common to 89 Ontario municipalities with combined sanitary and storm sewers, which carry untreated sewage and rainwater in a single pipe, the environmental group Ecojustice Canada reported last year.

Toronto is trying to divert rainwater from the sewers by requiring homeowners to detach gutter downspouts from drains and direct them onto lawns or gardens instead.

But Karey Shinn, co-chair of the Ashbridges Bay wastewater treatment plant neighbourhood liaison committee, said the city needs to “bite the bullet” and separate the roughly 25 per cent of its sewers that are still combined.

She also said more needs to be done to manage storm water higher up in the watershed.

“This idea somehow that we can afford to treat all the rain that falls on our city at a sanitary plant is just not viable.”