Sewers and Water Supply By-laws 2024 Compliance and Enforcement Annual Report

Through ongoing, proactive monitoring and enforcement of the City's Water and Sewers By-laws, Toronto Water staff identify violations, collaborate with industrial customers and residents to address potential compliance issues, prevent contamination of drinking water, and support key objectives such as improved nearshore water quality and pollution prevention. These efforts have contributed to cleaner beaches, measurable reductions in pollutants, progress toward delisting Areas of Concern, and reduced regulatory risks. In 2024, Toronto Water: - Undertook over 2,300 compliance and enforcement activities, including the investigation of 698 pollution complaints - Completed more than 3,100 sampling events, resulting in over 19,000 laboratory analyses - Issued 329 Notices of Violation (327 under the Sewers By-law and 2 under the Water Supply By-law), involving 264 businesses - Identified 9 new cross-connections and verified the resolution of 8 existing cross-connections, improving water quality at affected outfalls - Supported legal action against 12 companies, leading to 19 convictions and $356,000 in fines - Expanded the number of Industrial Waste Surcharge Agreements and Sanitary Discharge Agreements, recovering $19.3 million to offset the impacts of high-strength discharges on infrastructure and treatment processes In response to feedback received at the Infrastructure and Environment Committee last year, the 2024 report aims to provide more meaningful insight into Toronto Water's monitoring and enforcement program outcomes.