Ontario has two million septic tanks. In 2002, the provincial government passed a Nutrient Management Act, or NMA, forbidding the spreading of untreated septage on agricultural land by the end of 2005. The Ministry of the Environment, or MOE, told haulers to discharge their trucks at sewage treatment plants.
Typical treatment plants, however, can only take septage up to about 2 percent of their operating flow. Many facilities didn’t want additional septage or were already taxed beyond their capacities. Complicating the plan, hauling distances to many treatment facilities in rural Ontario are considered unreasonable.
The Ontario Association of Sewage Industry Services, or OASIS, told the Ministry of the Environment that it must force treatment plants to accept septage, enabling pumpers to comply. The ministry relented and land application continued.
Some pumpers store septage in lagoons. The NMA requires them to be cleaned out, lined, fenced, signed, and insured against environmental accidents. In the private sector, such insurance is almost impossible to obtain — even if haulers could afford it.
Like the other approximately 600 pumpers in Ontario, Robert “Pepi” Murrell of Pepi Sewage Disposal in Port Severn, Ontario, is caught between still applying raw septage on his farmland and wondering where MOE wants him to go with it. All parties agree that the practice should stop. They disagree on the alternatives.
Pumper:
How does Canada’s governmental structure differ from the United States?
Murrell:
In place of counties within states, we have counties within municipal councils governed by a province. Some counties are independent, while others unite to form a municipality because of the distances between them. I live in the District of Muskoka, and inside are townships such as Georgian Bay and Muskoka Lakes. Simcoe County, south of us, has townships such as Tay, Tiny, Severn and Oro-Medonte.
I’ve had septage lagoons in Tay since 1978, but shut them down in 1994 to comply with county Health Unit regulations. The district then allowed me to apply untreated septage to my farmland, and I’ve been doing it ever since.
Pumper:
Has the Ministry of the Environment suggested any solutions?
Murrell:
The ministry proposed lime stabilization, but OASIS said that it had to be on ministry-controlled property. After applying lime, the land must lay fallow for some time to recover. We’d run out of farmland real fast at that rate. Although farmers want them, the “not in my back yard” attitude of many communities makes it hard to find land even for biosolids. It’s quite a controversial issue.
This January, Tay Township told local haulers that one of its wastewater treatment plants would accept septage — the same facility that has sewage overflows into Georgian Bay. The plant wants 24-hour notice of a discharge and is open weekdays from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. The fee is $25 for 1,000 gallons of holding tank waste and $250 per 1,000 gallons for septage. An after-hours emergency adds $100.
The septage receiver isn’t designed to accept our equipment. It’s not on a slope, so we push off the load, which could cause spills and leaves residue in the tank that freezes in winter. Wastewater treatment plants are not the proper way to dispose of septage.
Pumper:
What solutions are being proposed by OASIS?
Murrell:
I’m on the board of directors, and attended the 2006 NAWT (National Association of Wastewater Transporters Inc.) Septage/Grease Trap Waste Treatment Symposium. It was the most informative training method I’d ever seen. Consequently, OASIS held its first Rural Wastewater Treatment Expo last fall to show municipalities options for handling and processing septage. We envision OASIS partnering with municipalities and experimenting with pilot projects to test which treatment technologies handle septage best at the most reasonable cost.
Our government pays lip service to environmental problems, but does nothing to solve them. For example, my lagoon site has had a Certificate of Approval to receive septage since 1978. I’m willing to partner with municipalities and OASIS. The government, however, wants the site insured against environmental accidents. OASIS has been unsuccessful in trying to obtain blanket coverage for our 250 members so we can build the facility. Whatever we propose is ignored or rejected, yet the government offers no alternatives. We’re hoping the 2005 provincial policy statement changes their minds.
Pumper:
How is OASIS addressing that attitude?
Murrell:
We keep attending meetings and voicing our environmental concerns. The Environmental Commissioner of Ontario stated that 86 percent of its treatment facilities can’t handle the sewage they receive, let alone what pumpers discharge. The provincial policy statement is enforcing legislation making municipalities responsible for the waste they generate. That policy will affect taxpayers. Once they realize that they are responsible for their sewage, we’re going to make headway.
The key is to give taxpayers the best value for their dollars, and that’s the goal of my presentations to various townships. In 2005, Ontario funded a $50,000 study in Grey County to seek a septage solution. The study recommended spending $8 million each to upgrade three municipal plants to accept septage. A partnership between OASIS, or private firms, and municipalities to construct and operate standalone plants would cost around $1 million each.
Within a year, such a plant could process a million gallons. It should handle three million gallons in three to five years. Any hauler would have access, and MOE would monitor operations.
Pumper:
How does the provincial policy statement about reserved sewage system capacity for hauled sewage affect pumpers?
Murrell:
It doesn’t, directly. It limits commercial expansion by mandating that municipalities have disposal systems to handle the additional septage or an agreement with an adjoining municipality to accept it.
The unaddressed problem concerns city people moving north and building large homes in cottage country. Our area is in a phenomenal growth spurt, but none of the infrastructure is there to support it. Our industry has pointed that out to government without success. For example, when Garfield Dunlop, Member of Provincial Parliament for Simcoe North, speaks to Liberal policymakers about the lack of infrastructure and its environmental impact, they talk just about expanding the tax base and tourism. Only Dunlop takes our issue seriously.
Pumper:
Is it legal to land-apply bio-solids from the dewatering process?
Murrell:
Yes, but city people who move to the country want to stop the process. OASIS also is fighting the chemical fertilizer industry and its anti-biosolids propaganda. That industry has deep pockets and lobbies government better than our organization does.
We know that septage must be stabilized and used. It can’t be stockpiled and shot to the moon. One way Ontario could handle the waste it generates is by emulating Manitoba and Québec. Municipal plants there process sludge into “night soils,” an organic nitrogen fertilizer for lawns and gardens. The Ontario government could never tell us why it can be imported, but not produced locally.
Pumper:
Where do you go from here?
Murrell:
We’re in a transitional period. Everybody is starting to talk about these issues. Small operators in rural Ontario, like myself, have a commitment to our communities. We have good customers we care about. Most of us are environmentally conscious and good corporate citizens. If left untethered, private industry and individuals have always solved overwhelming problems. I’m positive it will happen again. The alternative is unacceptable.
Robert “Pepi” Murrell of Pepi Sewage Disposal in Port Severn, Ontario, may be reached at 705/756-2644.
