"No person shall deposit...a deleterious substance of any type in water frequented by fish"
Section 36[3], Fisheries Act.

Brown foam on the water in Glen Haven - St. Margaret's Bay.

The Nova Scotia Environment Department has approved a septic system with a plastic liner on the shore of St. Margaret's Bay that appears to violate the federal Fisheries Act. 

NS Environment provided a Variance cancelling normal environmental setback protections, allowing the septic field to actually touch the seawall on the property being developed by Dr. Pat Croskerry at 50 Indian Point Road, Glen Haven, Nova Scotia, Canada.  According to the Ombudsman, when a Variance is given, there is a legal requirement to account for Adverse Effects, which apparently did not happen here.  Instead, this is a new approval to release up to 1000 litres of sewage effluent on the shore of Frost Fish Cove, every day. 

This is just down the road from the new public beach at McCou's Island.  Shellfish harvesting has already been closed here by Environment Canada because of bacteriological contamination, which also affects other uses of the water such as boating and swimming (as in photo above). This type of sloping sand mini-septic bed also removes less than 50% of the nitrogen and phosphorus from the sewage before it is released as continuous flow of fertilizer and soapsuds.

Will Environment Canada enforce Section 36[3] of the Fisheries Act to prevent needless pollution from this new septic system?  Maybe we shouldn't expect the law to be enforced.  It would embarrass the provincial government.  Plus, municipalities across the province violate the Fisheries Act with their own sewage facilities. Gerald Keddy is the local MP for federal legislation such as the Fisheries Act. 

York Friesen is the head of inspections for Environment Canada in Halifax.  Click here to see what he said.

Background | Media Coverage | Initial Septic Installation | 2nd Suspension of Septic Approval | Obstruction of the Freedom of Information Legislation