THUNDER BAY - The owner of a trailer park in Gorham Township and a water treatment system operator were handed thousands of dollars in fines for violating the Safe Drinking Water Act and Ontario Water Resources Act.
Walter Marchese, owner of the Silver Springs Estate Trailer Park, was convicted of two violations under the Safe Drinking Water Act and one violation under the Ontario Water Resources Act.
John Gervis, a certified water treatment system operator and the owner and sole director of Water Quality Services, was convicted of three violations under the Safe Drinking Water Act.
The violations took place between January 2019 and April 2022. According to a release by the Ministry of Environment, Conservation and Parks, the drinking water system at Silver Springs is connected to wells that draw water from a surface water supply.
A surface water supply requires a higher level of water treatment as opposed to a groundwater supply.
Adding a disinfectant is required by the owner of the water system, as well as ensuring that the water treatment equipment is capable of achieving chemically-assisted filtration and primary disinfection before water enters the distribution system.
The water system at Silver Springs was chlorinated but an inspection by the ministry in 2018 issued an order to install water treatment equipment and provide a new engineer's report within 30 days.
Marchese did make the alterations but failed to file the required report. The alterations were also found to be non-compliant with the Safe Drinking Water Act.
Other compliance issues were found during an inspection in July 2021, including the conditions of a ministry permit to take water not being met and samples not being collected or tested for bacteria in accordance with prescribed schedules.
Distribution samples also had not been collected or tested for trihalomethanes, a possible carcinogen for humans, during the second quarter of 2021.
Gervis was required to provide records that had been missing during the last inspection, but he failed to do so.
Water Quality Services was also required to submit records and documentation to the ministry, but it did not.
As a result of the convictions, Marchese was fined $12,000 plus a victim fine surcharge of $3,000. Gervis and Water Quality Services were fined a total of $21,000 and a victim fine surcharge of $5,250.
The parties were given one year to pay the fines.
