FALL RIVER: The developer of the Carr Farm development, Vision 7 Developments, is responsible for any impacts caused from it, N.S. Environment and Climate Change said.
At a Councillors Community meeting held earlier this week put on by Councillor Cathy Deagle Gammon at the Waverley Legion, a few concerned residents asked a question about the Sewage Treatment Plant and who is responsible should it fail and who is responsible if that failure leads to an impact on Lake Thomas.
While Deagle Gammon could not answer that herself since it is a provincial issue, she took the question and sent it to MLA Brian Wong for an answer.
The Laker News also sent the same question, although split it up into three separate questions, to NSECC for a reply.
Tracy Barron, communications with NSECC, sent the answers from the department on Oct. 13.
The first question was “If the system fails, will the province or developer be responsible for the health of Lake Thomas?”
“The receiving water study that was completed concluded that given the high-level of treatment, the proposed discharge will not have any measurable impact on Lake Thomas or drinking water,” said Barron.
The receiving water study can be found online, starting on page 93:
Another question was “Should the STP (with treated effluent) approved by NSECC for the Carr Farm development on the Fall River Rd fail who will be responsible?”.
We also asked: “Who will compensate those residents who take their drinking water from the lake should the system fail?”
Barron answered those as well.
“The approval holder is responsible for ensuring adherence to all environmental requirements, and they are also responsible to assess and remediate any impacts resulting from a treatment failure or non-compliance with their approval,” she said.
“As a regulator, Nova Scotia Environment and Climate Change has a variety of possible enforcement actions it can take to address non-compliance issues, if warranted.”
Barron said any reported or identified violations are investigated, and enforcement action can include issuing warnings, Summary Offence Tickets, or prosecution.
She said for any questions about the proposed facility residents have, those should be directed to the approval holder.
