An Alberta company pleaded guilty to contravening the Water Act earlier this week and was ordered to pay $12,000, inclusive of a victim fine surcharge.
The company, named 1656758 Alberta Inc., which operated under the firm name and style of Enviro Container and Cleaning Solutions Inc., used water from an unlicensed water well to wash empty plastic totes at its bulk container reconditioning and recycling facility in Red Deer County.
The province says the well couldn’t be licensed for commercial use because it drew from multiple aquifers, a violation of the Water Act.
All Water Act approval applications must undergo a detailed regulatory review before they can be authorized to proceed.
As part of a creative sentence, $11,500 from the penalty will go to support the Canada WaterPortal Society to help modernize its website and promote information about groundwater with a focus on Alberta and the Red Deer watershed.