City of Hamilton fined $600,000 for a 26-year sewage leak into Hamilton Harbour from a pipe at Burlington and Wentworth
The Province says a hole made in a combined sewer during 1996 roadwork sent an estimated 337 million litres of sewage into Hamilton Harbour before it was found in 2022. The City was convicted under the Ontario Water Resources Act.
The details
The conviction
The City of Hamilton has been convicted of one violation of the Ontario Water Resources Act for discharging, or causing or permitting the discharge of, sanitary sewage into waters where it may impair water quality, according to a court bulletin issued by Ontario's Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks on October 7, 2026. The bulletin gives the date of conviction as March 20, 2026, and the court location as Hamilton.
- $600,000, plus a $150,000 victim fine surcharge
- 24
- $80,000 to the Bay Area Restoration Council within 60 days
- On or about September 1, 1996, to November 23, 2022
- About 337 million litres of sanitary sewage over about 26 years
What went wrong
The Province's account says the City reported to the ministry on November 22, 2022, that a hole had been found in a combined sewage pipe at the intersection of Burlington Street East and Wentworth Street North. The pipe was connected to a storm sewer, so combined sewage was flowing directly to Hamilton Harbour. The City stopped the discharge that day using vacuum trucks, and repairs were completed on November 23, 2022.
According to the bulletin, the City's investigation found the hole was suspected to have been made during a 1996 roadwork project in which a sewer pipe was mislabelled.
A second cross-connection
The bulletin says the City began a proactive inspection program in early December 2022 to look for other cross-connected sewers in its combined system. On January 9, 2023, it found a second one at Rutherford Avenue and Myrtle Avenue, which was also discharging combined sewage directly to Hamilton Harbour. The City reported that spill, stopped the discharge with vacuum trucks, and finished repairs on January 11, 2023.
On January 18, 2023, the ministry issued an order to the City covering both spills, requiring an improved sampling program to identify possible spills from the collection system and recommendations for strengthening its inspection programs. The bulletin says the City fully complied with the order. The ministry's Environmental Investigations and Enforcement Branch laid the charges that led to the conviction.