A sole proprietor of a drinking water well company was fined $12,000 plus the twenty-five per cent victim fine surcharge by the Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change. The sole proprietor was convicted for maintaining four separate drinking water wells at two locations in the Peterborough area without the appropriate licenses and failing to send the MOECC a well record following the construction of the drinking water wells as required by the Ontario Water Resources Act.
The sole proprietor is in the business of drilling new drinking water wells, decommissioning old wells, and repairing and maintaining existing wells. The sole proprietor did have a Well Contractor’s Licence and a Well Technician Licence; however both licences were either not renewed or had expired.
The MOECC found that the owner of the company refused to provide customers with the required well records and information relating to the drilling of new drinking water wells. This information was not provided to the MOECC in an attempt to ensure that the MOECC had no record of the drilling.
The sole proprietor was convicted of four offences and fined $12,000 plus the victim fine surcharge. A total of $3,000 was paid immediately with the remainder being payable within a period of one year.