Government regulations are frustrating septage haulers facing fewer disposal options and higher operating costs.

The province's Ministry of the Environment estimates that 1.2 to 4.2 million cubic metres of waste are pumped each year from septic systems and holding tanks in rural areas, cottage country, campgrounds and trailer parks across the province.

Until recently, that waste was spread on land without any kind of treatment, creating the danger of bacteria and viruses contaminating nearby water supplies. Septage runoff can also choke waterways, and the toxic compounds from household chemicals can pose an environmental threat, according to a 2004 study by Alberta Environment's septage management advisory committee.

Spurred by recommendations from the Walkerton inquiry into tainted water that were published in 2002, the Ontario government has promised to end the practice.

- Toby Barrett, MPP for Haldimand-Norfolk-Brant

The septage industry agrees land spreading of untreated waste must end. The problem is the lack of alternatives. "People don't seem to realize that this stuff has to go somewhere. You can't ship it to the moon," says Toby Barrett, MPP for Haldimand-Norfolk-Brant and the Conservative party's agriculture and food critic.

Currently, 40 per cent of Ontario's septage is trucked to sewage treatment plants and sewage lagoons. As land-disposal options disappear, that percentage is likely increase.

However, many sewage treatment plants are refusing to accept septage, which is significantly more concentrated than municipal sewage. In many cases, the plant must be modified before it can deal with the high-strength waste.

Some plants - already running at or near capacity - simply can't accommodate more waste.

Many that do accept septage are increasing their fees.

According to Robert Murrell, the owner of Pepi Sewage Disposal Services in Port Severn and a board member of the Ontario Association of Sewage Industry Services (OASIS), fees have gone as high as $400 per 1,000 gallons. "This has become a money grab," he says.

Murrell says rates vary across the province, although figures from sewage treatment plants in towns such as Blue Mountain on southern Georgian Bay charged $90 to $100 per 1,000 gallons last year.

Rising disposal costs can be a recipe for illegal dumping. Already, he says, operators who comply with government regulations are being undercut by less scrupulous haulers who offer cheaper services.

When Ontario's Environmental SWAT Team (now renamed the Sector Compliance Branch) did a blitz of septage haulers between April 2001 and January 2003, its inspection of 314 companies revealed close to 100-per-cent non-compliance.

It issued 263 orders for corrective action and 41 tickets, summonses and notices for violations of environmental laws.

Most of Ontario's 1,000 to 1,100 sewage-hauling companies are small family-run businesses, according to OASIS executive director Don Kelloway. There is no certification or training required.

"A lot of people in our industry are doing things under the table," says Murrell. "How can I compete with the guy who bends the rules?" There's also the fear that cottagers and rural residents won't have their systems emptied as frequently if prices continue to be driven up by higher disposal fees and diesel costs.

A 2004 pilot study of septage treatment options in Grey County on southern Georgian Bay estimated that the costs of a pump-out could more than double if treatment costs were passed on to consumers - but it would mean that septage could be safely applied to land.

One of the methods the Ministry of the Environment is investigating is alkaline stabilization, where lime is added to boost the pH of septage, killing off bacteria and viruses.

The process is currently used in several U.S. states and Quebec, but Murrell wants guarantees that lime is safe and acceptable before he'll consider spreading it on his land.

Another possibility is composting, which the Grey County study concluded was the least costly and the most environmentally and socially acceptable option.

The authors estimated it would cost $6.7 million to build a composting facility to deal with the waste of more than 22,500 septic systems and holding tanks across the county, while the annual operating bill would run to $490,000.

Not all of the pilot projects have ended yet, says Ministry of the Environment spokesman John Steele, and it will take a while to analyse the results. "We have to be satisfied before we approve this type of technology that indeed it works," he explains.

He is quick to reassure the industry that land spreading of untreated septage won't be stopped until other disposal methods become available.

In March, fearful sewage haulers protested outside the provincial legislature when it looked as if Bill 133, the so-called "spills bill" designed to strengthen the province's environmental laws, would mean an immediate halt to land disposal.

While the government has committed to taking action by 2007, Steele says the ministry will continue to accept applications for the certificates of approval that allow haulers to spread untreated septage on designated sites.

"A significant amount of the population of Ontario depend on holding tanks and septic systems, so you have to have infrastructure in place, treatment technology in place, before you can just put a ban on this type of application" says Steele.

Both Murrell and Barrett believe the answer lies in having municipalities take responsibility for septage disposal within their jurisdiction: Establishing proper sites, handling insurance and inspections, and allowing private septage haulers to focus on serving their customers.

Barrett points out that he pays property taxes that help to fund the sewage treatment plant in town. Yet in Norfolk county, where he lives, municipal sewage treatment plants have been turning away septage haulers. Norfolk county is south of Brantford on Lake Erie.

"Municipalities have to realize they serve rural as well as urban residents," he says. "They're just going to have to play catch up and accommodate this."

The septage issue will likely rear its head in the legislature again this fall, when a new source-water protection bill is expected to be introduced. But Murrell is not optimistic the situation will improve any time soon.

He says fewer people are entering the industry each year because the money isn't there. That's a worrying trend in rural Ontario, where septage hauling is an essential service.

"There's got to be a turnaround," he says.

(Julie Stauffer can be reached at stauffer@businessedge.ca)