Ontario proposes new wash water discharge rules for greenhouse growers

Wednesday, March 13, 2013

by SUSAN MANN

Public meetings are scheduled later this month so Ontario greenhouse growers can learn more about a government proposal that would allow them to apply wash water to land under the Nutrient Management Act.

Currently growers must obtain an environmental compliance approval under the Ontario Water Resources and Environmental Protection Acts to discharge nutrient rich greenhouse irrigation water on farm fields. The water, which contains fertilizer, must be removed from the greenhouse irrigation system if its nutrient levels become higher than what the plants can use.

The proposed regulation has been posted on the environmental and regulatory registries and people can make comments until April 15.

The regulation says the proposal sets out a framework for managing and land applying the wash water (called nutrient feed water in the proposal) under the Nutrient Management Act.

Tanya Marissen, provincial agriculture ministry spokesperson, says by email the proposal would help to maintain the sector’s competitiveness while protecting Ontario’s waterways, including the Great Lakes. Developed by the agriculture and environment ministries in collaboration with the greenhouse sector, the proposed regulation fulfills a commitment made in March 2012 “to address concerns that were raised by the greenhouse industry.”

Don Taylor, chair of the Ontario Greenhouse Vegetable Growers, says they’re pleased the agriculture and environment ministries have developed this solution.

About a year and a half ago, the environment ministry started using environmental compliance approvals to regulate the greenhouse sector. But “we didn’t feel that was an appropriate mechanism to use,” he says. “It’s more of an industrial regulatory process.”

The Nutrient Management Act was developed to look at the environmental performance of agriculture and do it in a way that enables farmers to continue being competitive, Taylor says, adding the greenhouse sector asked for the Act to be used instead to regulate the nutrient aspects of greenhouses. “We felt that was the best mechanism. It has worked well for the livestock sector.”

Jan VanderHout, vice chair of the Ontario Greenhouse Vegetable Growers, says on his farm they have very good source water and the non-desirable elements don’t build up “so we’re able to run a closed circuit almost always.” But when the nutrient feed water does get out of balance, under this proposal he can store it and spread it on a field “to grow some better corn, better hay or whatever the case may be.”

VanderHout says there will still be rules and regulations under the Nutrient Management Act but they will be “established across the board. So we don’t all have to spend tens of thousands of dollars for engineering reports, environmental compliance approvals and inspections to do the same thing in the end.”

This isn’t about “getting away with anything,” he notes. “It’s about doing the right thing in a cost-effective manner.”

The proposal says greenhouse discharges have been flagged as contributors to water quality degradation in some Ontario waterways. Currently, farmers’ only other option to obtaining an environmental compliance approval to discharge the water is to treat it before discharge.
 
“The greenhouse sector is seeking additional options that have a more predictable and less costly approval process and that are specifically geared” to the industry, the proposal says.

Marissen says farmers who choose not to, or can’t apply nutrient feed water to land under the Nutrient Management Act would continue being subject to the Ontario Water Resources Act requirements. The Ontario Water Resources Act would continue being used to regulate direct discharge to groundwater or surface water, she adds. BF  

Public meeting schedule

• March 18 in Leamington at the Roma Club from 7-9 p.m. (English)
• March 19 in Jordan at the Ramada Jordan Beacon Harbourside from 7-9 p.m. (English)
• April 2 at Queen’s Park, Superior Room, 900 Bay St. in Toronto from 10 a.m. to noon (English)
• April 2 at Queen’s Park, Superior Room 900 Bay St. in Toronto from 1-3 p.m. (French)