The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
Dear Editor, Do you have a sewage ejector system, a disposal field, a holding tank or some other type of wastewater management system on your property? Then you should be aware of proposed amendments to the province's Onsite Wastewater Management Systems Regulation (OWMS) under The Environment Act that may affect you. For example, the proposed changes will prohibit the installation of new sewage ejectors across Manitoba. As well, at the time of a property transfer, existing sewage ejectors must be eliminated, decommissioned and replaced with a disposal field or holding tank. Also prohibited under the proposed amendments will be "the use of a disposal field for new systems in sensitive areas, Crown land cottage developments, provincial parks and portions of the Red River corridor. The method of sewage disposal for new installations in these areas will be limited to a holding tank." When the regulation is enacted, a minimum lot size of 8,000 square metres (two acres) and a width of 60 metres (198 feet) will be required in order to install a disposal field. In areas of Manitoba already serviced by wastewater infrastructure, new installations or replacement of existing onsite systems will be prohibited. Hook-up to a municipal collection system will be required in serviced areas. The proposed changes also aim to, "limit new and replacement systems to holding tanks or alternative systems where wastewater infrastructure is planned, but which may not be installed for five or more years." To read all the proposed amendments in complete detail, visit: www.gov.mb.ca/conservation/envprograms/wastewater/index.html The provincial government is seeking public feedback on these amendments until March 31. Comments can be mailed c/o Donna Smiley, OWMS Program Coordinator, Environmental Services, Manitoba Conservation, 1007 Century Street, Winnipeg, R3H 0W4; faxed to (204) 948-2420; or e-mailed to [email protected]. Input from people who use these types of wastewater systems is invaluable, so send any questions or concerns you have to the provincial government before the regulation is finalized. Heather Stefanson Progressive Conservative Conservation Critic
