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ARTICLE · 27 JULY 2012

Ontario Court Affirms Clean-Up Order Against Innocent Municipality

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The City of Kawartha Lakes (the "City") must clean up contamination that seeped into its municipal storm sewer system from a neighbouring basement, even though it was not responsible for causing the contamination.

CanadaEnvironment
Tiffany Tsun
Tiffany Tsun
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As appeared in Municipal Information Network.

The City of Kawartha Lakes (the "City") must clean up contamination that seeped into its municipal storm sewer system from a neighbouring basement, even though it was not responsible for causing the contamination. On May 28, 2012, the Ontario Divisional Court found that the Environmental Review Tribunal (the "Tribunal") was correct in upholding the clean-up order issued by the Director of the Ministry of the Environment.1

Facts

In late 2008, several hundred litres of furnace oil leaked from a basement of a property located in the City. The property owner's insurance company retained a consultant to begin remediation, during which it was discovered that furnace oil had entered into the City's municipal storm sewer system and culverts, and was being discharged into Sturgeon Lake. The consultant notified the Ministry of the Environment, and the Ministry, in turn, ordered the property owner to eliminate adverse effects

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