News Release

For immediate release
September 14, 2007

VERABAY INVESTMENTS INC. FINED $20,000 AFTER ALLOWING WATER SYSTEM TO DETERIORATE

LINDSAY –Verabay Investments Inc. has been fined $20,000, plus a victim fine surcharge, after pleading guilty to failing to submit an action plan to the Ministry of the Environment (MOE). The plan would have outlined what the company intended to do with respect to keeping its water system in compliance with the Safe Drinking Water Act, 2002 (SDWA).

Verabay Investments is the owner of the Kennedy Bay Communal Well System, located in the City of Kawartha Lakes.

On March 24, 2004, at the request of the Ministry of the Environment, a company representative met with a drinking water inspector for a site inspection of the well system. It was determined that the owner of the system was not in compliance with several requirements of the SDWA.

The court heard that it had been determined that the owners had abandoned the system and had left it in a state of disrepair. As a result of these findings MOE issued an order that required the owners to submit an action plan that outlined how the company would bring the well system back into compliance with the SDWA by June 25, 2004. As of December 22, 2006, this requirement had not been complied with.

The company was charged on December 2, 2005, following an investigation by the Ministry of the Environment’s Investigations and Enforcement Branch.

Verabay Investments Inc. pleaded guilty to failing to submit an action plan outlining what measures would be taken to ensure compliance with sampling, maintenance, operational checks and adverse test reporting requirements, as set out in Regulation 170/03 of the SDWA. The company was fined $20,000, plus a victim fine surcharge, and given one year to pay.

Justice of the Peace Herbert B. Radtke passed sentence in the Ontario Court of Justice in Lindsay, Ontario, on August 17, 2007.

 

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For further information:
John Steele Communications Branch 416-314-6666
Contact information for the general public: 416-325-4000 or 1-800-565-4923/ www.ontario.ca/environment

 

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