Toilets in Parks: Peering into the Vault
With over 330 parks, covering 9 million hectares and attracting over 10 million visitors each year, Ontario’s provincial park system provides an important recreational and natural heritage resource. Ontario Parks – the branch of the Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR) responsible for administering and operating Ontario’s provincial parks – has the goal of ensuring that “Ontario’s provincial parks protect significant natural, cultural, and recreational environments, while providing ample opportunities for visitors to participate in recreational activities.” To support its visitors, many parks provide campgrounds, showers, flush toilets and vault privies (outdoor toilet facilities that retain sewage in a watertight receptacle).
In February 2010, two applicants requested that the Ministry of the Environment (MOE) investigate MNR for alleged contraventions of: the Environmental Protection Act (EPA ); the Ontario Water Resources Act (OWRA ); O. Reg. 129/04 – Licensing of Sewage Works Operators and Regulation 903 – Wells, made under the OWRA ; and four Certificates of Approval (Cs of A) in several provincial parks. These alleged contraventions include: the failure to comply with the basic maintenance of sewage works; the discharge of untreated sewage into the natural environment; and the alteration of sewage works without appropriate approvals.
The applicants provided a detailed list of alleged contraventions, including the dumping of raw sewage from a sewage lagoon in Sibbald Point Provincial Park, the release of raw sewage from a sewage system in Lake Superior Provincial Park, and the failure of staff to comply with sewage-related Cs of A at Sibbald Point, Lake Superior, Silent Lake, Restoule, Driftwood, Algonquin, Fushimi Lake, and Sioux Narrows Provincial Parks. Supporting evidence included copies of MNR’s 2008 environmental sanitation audit reports and photographs of vault privy inspections.
The applicants argued that MNR, as the owner of sewage works in provincial parks, is responsible for maintaining, altering and operating these systems according to applicable laws, Cs of A, operational policies and minimum operating standards in a manner that does not contaminate the environment with raw/untreated sewage. The applicants stated that although senior management at Ontario Parks had been informed of non-compliance issues through decades of environmental sanitation audits, these issues have remained unaddressed due to limited time, staff and money. Moreover, the applicants alleged that management edited draft sanitation audit reports to steer away from embarrassing issues concerning environmental and public health and safety. The applicants concluded that MNR is more interested in having favourable environmental sanitation audit reports generated than admitting/documenting that Ontario Parks cannot meet its mandate.
Ministry Response
MOE agreed to undertake the investigation and on September 29, 2010, MOE informed the applicants that it had completed its investigation, which involved: a review of the application, MNR records, and park operations; park inspections; and a review of district inspections conducted as part of MOE’s ongoing compliance activities. Although MOE found that Ontario Parks has a comprehensive plan for reviewing the operations of its parks (including its sewage facilities), MOE’s site inspections (summarized in the report entitled Ministry Findings in Relation to Alleged Contraventions at Twelve Ontario Parks) identified several issues of non-compliance, some of which were related to the applicants’ allegations and others that were not.
MOE found that the most egregious issues raised by the applicants (e.g., the dumping and release of raw sewage into the environment) were either unfounded or had already been identified and addressed by Ontario Parks. However, issues of ongoing non-compliance that MOE did identify included: park staff being unaware of the location of a sewage tank; a sewage system being extended without a certification statement by a qualified person; the tile bed system for a comfort station operating without a C of A; and two park annual inventory lists not being submitted to MOE as required. The ministry noted that “at the time of inspections, while violations of ministry requirements were observed, there was no evidence of serious environmental impacts or immediate danger to public health and safety.”
In response to the investigation’s findings, MOE requested that specific parks address the observed issues of noncompliance. MOE indicated that all items of non-compliance would be pursued by a Provincial Officer to ensure timely compliance. Moreover, based on the inspections, MOE encouraged – but did not require – the inspected parks to undertake recommended actions to enhance their current practices. For the full text of the ministry decision, see our website at www.eco.on.ca.
ECO Comment
Given the applicants’ compelling evidence of possible contraventions, and this unusual situation in which the alleged contravenor is another provincial ministry, the ECO believes it was prudent of MOE to accept the application and conduct a transparent investigation. The ECO also commends MOE for conducting a thorough investigation. The ECO notes, however, that in some cases, MOE’s conclusion that inspected sewage systems were functioning properly would have been more convincing had all the inspections been conducted when park septic systems were most stressed (i.e., during peak park capacity or at the end of the summer season). By inspecting questionable vault privies under a variety of conditions, MOE would be better able to gauge whether these systems operate properly throughout the summer.
The ECO is pleased that MOE committed to ensuring that issues of non-compliance are rectified, and recommended that several of the inspected parks enhance their current practices. Nevertheless, because the observed incidences of non-compliance could be symptomatic of a systemic problem across the province’s parks, the ECO is disappointed that MOE’s requested actions and recommendations resolve only the sitespecific problems identified during this investigation. To ensure that similar issues are addressed elsewhere, the ECO believes that MNR should learn from this case and consider implementing MOE’s recommendations on standardized maintenance, operation and inspection procedures across all provincial parks.
For a more detailed review of this application, please refer to Section 6.1.2 of the Supplement to this Annual Report. For ministry comments, please see Appendix C.
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| This is an article from the 2010/11 Annual Report to the Legislature from the Environmental Commissioner of Ontario. |
Citing This Article:
Environmental Commissioner of Ontario. 2011. "Toilets in Parks: Peering into the Vault." Engaging Solutions, ECO Annual Report, 2010/11. Toronto: The Queen's Printer for Ontario. 123-124.
