Timmins Fined $45,000 for Violations at Sewage Treatment Plant

The City of Timmins was convicted on March 13, 2025, of multiple violations under the Ontario Water Resources Act and the Environmental Protection Act, and fined $45,000, plus a victim fine surcharge of $11,250. According to the Ontario Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks, the city has one year to pay the full penalty.

The Mattagami Water Pollution Control Plant, operated by Timmins and serving about 32,000 residents in Timmins, Mountjoy, and Schumacher, was the subject of a July 2023 inspection in which the Ministry identified several regulatory violations. Treated water from the plant is discharged into the Mattagami River.

The Ministry stated that the offences occurred between June 1, 2018 and December 20, 2023. Convictions included operating, altering, or extending the sewage works without required ministry approval, failing to meet sampling requirements during bypass and overflow events, failing to properly operate and maintain the chlorination system, and failing to retain the required records for at least five years.

According to the Ministry, the July 2023 inspection found the required phosphorus removal system out of operation. The plant’s three metering pumps for phosphorus removal had been removed in June 2018, according to city correspondence, and were replaced by December 20, 2023.

The Ministry reported that during a bypass event on May 1–2, 2023, grab samples were not collected on May 2 as required. Similarly, the city collected only one grab sample at the start of an overflow event from November 10–12, 2022, rather than collecting samples every eight hours as required. The Ministry also stated that on the night of September 10, 2022, a loss of chlorination resulted in eight hours of undisinfected water being discharged, and no samples were collected as required. The disinfection system did not alert the on-call operator during the event; the issue was discovered by staff at the beginning of the next day shift.

During the inspection process, the Ministry requested alarm records for January 1 to March 17, 2022. The city responded that records were only kept for 365 days, instead of the five years required by regulations. The Ministry’s Environmental Investigations and Enforcement Branch conducted the investigation and laid the charges that resulted in these convictions.