A Muskoka lodging facility and its sole director and officer have been convicted after failing to comply with a ministry of the environment order by failing to submit a ministry approval application and for director liability.
Blue Water Lodging Ltd. operates a lodging facility on Blue Water Road which provides cottage, trailer and camping site rentals.
The Province reports that on August 12th, 2016, the ministry inspected the site and identified a sewage disposal system that had a design capacity of greater than 10,000 litres per day, which requires ministry approval under the Ontario Water Resources Act.
Following the inspection, the ministry provided the company’s officer with an onsite sewage disposal inspection report, which required the company to submit a ministry approval application for the sewage works.
The Province reports no response was received from the company or the officer regarding the actions required in the report, despite follow-up communications sent from the ministry on two dates in 2016.
In August 2017, ministry staff conducted a second site inspection and confirmed that the sewage works were still operating at the same capacity and that no ministry approval application had been submitted.
On September 7th, 2017, ministry staff issued a ministry order that required the company to submit a ministry approval application for the sewage works by December 29, 2017. TheProvince reports that the company failed to comply. However, in January 2018, the ministry communicated with the officer and agreed to provide an extension to the compliance date to September 28, 2018; Again, the company failed to comply.
The ministry’s Environmental Investigations and Enforcement Branch investigated and laid charges which resulted in two convictions.
The company pled guilty to one violation and was fined $6,000 plus a $1,500 victim fine surcharge.
The company’s officer pled guilty to a violation and was fined $5,000 plus a $1,250 victim fine surcharge.
Blue Water Lodging and the officer were convicted of one violation each under the Ontario Water Resources Act.
The company and its officer were given 90 days to pay the fines.
The date of conviction in Bracebridge was May 5th, 2021.