cross posted at Ecojustice

Following years of pressure from Ecojustice and other environmental groups, federal Environment Minister Jim Prentice has announced that new sewage regulations for our municipalities are on their way:

Canadian municipalities will have to bring their leaky sewage treatment plants up to snuff under new regulations to be unveiled by the Harper government later this year.

The new rules will set performance benchmarks, timelines and monitoring and reporting requirements for the country's 4,000 wastewater facilities, Environment Minister Jim Prentice said Thursday in Saint John, N.B.

The feds are also planning to make funding available through the federal infrastructure fund. Taken together, these changes are long overdue, much welcomed, and fall directly in line with Ecojustice’s recommendations – most notably from our National Sewage Report Card, Great Lakes Sewage Report Card, and just last month in Flushing Out the Truth.

The draft regulations will be made available in December, and we’ll be looking forward to providing our comments to ensure that these long awaited changes provide the safe and healthy water that Canadians deserve.