Settlement Reached in Permit to Take Water Appeal: negotiations with CRH conclude with greater protections for water

Elmvale Flow

From the Tiny Cottager, July 28, 2022

The Federation of Tiny Township Shoreline Associations (FoTTSA) has negotiated a settlement of FoTTSA’s appeal of the 2021 Permit to Take Water issued by the Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks (MECP) to the owners of the Teedon Pit, CRH Canada Group Inc. (CRH).

The settlement will result in CRH installing an impermeable liner in the recirculation cell of the company’s existing aggregate washing operations within one year of receiving the requisite environmental compliance approval from the MECP. The purpose of the liner, which may establish a new industry standard of conduct for such operations, is to prevent the release of silt-contaminated water from aggregate washing getting into the groundwater system. The settlement will also result in the inclusion in the approval of measures respecting monitoring, inspection, response to complaints, and the prevention of silt discharges to surface water through a catch basin in the site’s berm.

FoTTSA was represented during the settlement negotiations by hydrogeologist, Wilf Ruland, and lawyers from the Canadian Environmental Law Association (CELA).

Other parties to the settlement were the MECP and the Township of Tiny.

CELA continues to represent FoTTSA in a separate case before the Ontario Land Tribunal regarding CRH’s proposed extension of the Teedon Pit into French’s Hill, the location of a significant recharge area above the Alliston Aquifer.

Read the full settlement here.

Read the announcement here