Maple Leaf Marinas Holdings GP Inc. - Environmental Compliance Approval (sewage)

The following written comment was received by email:

"XXX are very concerned about the environmental impact of a proposal by Maple Leaf Marinas to construct a 74 unit recreational trailer park on the edge of the Tay River and Tiffin Basin. The new development is proposed to be serviced by expanding the existing sewage treatment facilities on the site. We have made our concerns known to the developer and Tay Township and are awaiting their decision on planning approvals required. 

I called your Ministry this morning and was told that the file on the expansion had not been assigned to a reviewer as yet. The file number she gave me was 1272-BSMRKN.

I looked at your web site and noted that approval has already been granted for the file referenced above. Are these the same project?

XXX are concerned about the discharge of effluent from an existing tile field meters away from the Tay River. Because of that concern we submitted three water samples to an independent lab in Barrie. One sample came from a location upstream from the septic tile field. The second came from a sample taken at the septic tile field and the last from a location near the mouth of the river. The sample taken closest to the septic tile field showed 440 CFU/100 ml of E-Coli. The sample drawn upstream of the septic field showed 30 CFU/100 ml of E-Coli. Clearly something is going on."

Ministry response:

The proposed development at the Wye Marina will not be serviced by an expansion of two existing conventional Class IV subsurface disposal systems, but by a new sewage treatment and subsurface disposal system. The ministry issued Environmental Compliance Approval No. 6704-BR9Q3S for the Wye Marina’s two existing conventional Class IV subsurface disposal systems on July 31, 2020.

The approved new sewage treatment and subsurface disposal system will be located approximately 250 meters north-east of the Wye River. The approved new system is an advanced sewage treatment and subsurface disposal system, called an Enviro-Septic® System, that will achieve higher levels of sewage treatment than the two existing conventional Class IV subsurface disposal systems.

Typical domestic raw sewage contains in the range of 1,000,000 to 10,000,000,000 fecal and total coliforms per 100 ml. The fecal bacteria in sewage naturally die out as the effluent from a sewage treatment and subsurface disposal system moves through the soil.

Leaching beds are normally located at sufficient distance from a waterbody or a well to ensure there is no public health or environmental concerns. According to the Ontario Building Code (Table 8.2.1.6.B – Minimum Clearances for Distribution Piping), the minimum clearance distance from distribution piping to a lake, a pond, a reservoir, a river, a spring (not used as a source of portable water) or a lake is 15 meters.

The result of 440 CFU/100 ml for E. coli from a single sample taken at the existing leaching bed does not indicate, by itself, that there are potential public health or environmental concerns, including adverse environmental impacts to the surrounding surface waters (the Wye River and Tiffin Basin) resulting from the operation of the existing leaching bed. There may be other potential sources of fecal bacteria in the Wye River such as geese or other animals. More samples would need to be collected to determine if there are public health or environmental concerns associated with the operation of the existing leaching bed.

Since, the approved new sewage treatment and subsurface disposal system will be located approximately 250 meters north-east of the Wye River, no fecal contamination of the Wye River is expected to occur as a result of the operation of the approved new sewage treatment and subsurface system.

An effluent quality monitoring program is included in the amended Environmental Compliance Approval to ensure the proper operation of the approved new sewage treatment and subsurface disposal system.