HEDDY SOROUR
The Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks is recommending that municipalities enact back flow prevention by-laws to safeguard drinking water system from users that use chemicals in their day to day operations. In response, Carleton Place Public Works has drafted a by-law that will require all such businesses to have a back flow prevention device installed at the drinking water connection entering their building.
“We’re trying to mitigate the likelihood of [a contamination], it’s not frequent and has not happened in Carleton place to my knowledge ever. By putting these back flow devices in, and making sure that everyone keeps them up to speed, there should be no risk that a severe contamination issue will occur,” said Guy Bourgon, director of Public Works.
The by-law was presented at Committee of the Whole on September 10 and is expected to pass on September 24. As drafted the by-law will require all identified moderate to high risk users on the drinking water system to install a device and to have it tested on a yearly basis at their own expense over the next five years. Failure to do so will result in monetary fines and if a business still won’t install one, the town will then have the right to cut off the water supply until they do.
“So we will reach out and provide information once [the by-law is passed] and give everyone five years to comply because the costs will vary, so the larger businesses might see a more significant hit, the small business will take a smaller hit,” said Bourgon.
Some businesses will already have one as part of their own licensing, for example Funeral Homes.
“It’s been the law for funeral homes for years,” said Wayne Bennet owner of Barker Funeral Home in Carleton Place. While the device was required for funeral homes by the Ministry of Health, there was no testing requirement attached, as far as Bennet recalls.
“I don’t know who you would get to test it, I really don’t know anything about this,” said Bennet.
Other businesses contacted by HomeTown News, say they rent their premises and are not aware if there is one already installed.
Bourgon says the town will send out information to the targeted users on the qualifications required for a testing service and leave it up to the business to find their own testing service.
“We tend to try not to be prescriptive because then we show favouritism to one business versus another. So as long as the testing service meets the necessary qualifications as set out in the by-law then they’re allowed to do it,” said Bourgon.
To have a back flow device installed a small business could be looking at about $1,000 to $1,500 depending on how complex the installation is. Only a plumber certified for the work can do the installation. A larger business could be facing around $5,000 to $6,000 in expense.
The newly minted by-law sets out monetary fines starting at $10,000 for any user that does not have one installed within the next five years, starting January 2025. At the same time businesses that have the devices will need to have their back flow prevention device tested at their own expense on a yearly basis and provide those test results to the municipality by a specific date.
Delays in providing the results of testing to the municipality will also carry monetary fines, and failure to provide the test results will also have consequences.
“If we tell someone they need to have their back flow prevention device tested and they have to have the results to us by such and such a date and they don’t do that there’s going to be a penalty involved, and they’ll have to do it anyway but we would administer a penalty and then we would go to the business and tell them they have to do this by such and such a date and if you don’t we’re shutting off your water supply,” said Bourgon.
The initial monetary fines for late testing results could range from $50 to $200, according to Bourgon.
Businesses that are required to have these devices include mechanics, auto-body shops, Camp-sites and RV stations, car washes, dry cleaning plants, medical clinics and the list goes on. The full by-law and list of affected businesses can be found on the town’s website, currently under Agenda for the September 10 Committee of the Whole Meeting and under by-laws once it’s passed at the end of this month.
Many businesses will already have them because, according to Bourgon, it was sometime around 2014 that the Ontario Building Code changed to require back flow prevention devices for all moderate to high risk users. Businesses that started or were built prior to that change will be the first ones the municipality will reach out to inform of the new by-law.
