Fine issued for water licence violation

By Delon Shurtz - Lethbridge Herald on December 21, 2022.

LETHBRIDGE HERALDdshurtz@lethbridgeherald.com

The owner of a southern Alberta company has been fined for contravening terms and conditions of his water licence.

Robert Rettie, 61, was fined $2,500 after he pleaded guilty Tuesday in Lethbridge provincial court to one count of contravening an enforcement order under the Alberta Water Act.

Court was told Rettie and his company, Aqua Properties of Calgary, were granted a licence to provide 106 lots in an RV park near Champion with water from an aquifer. The licence required Rettie to regularly monitor the water level and record how much water he was taking from the aquifer, but he failed to do so.

The contravention of his licence was discovered in 2021 when Rettie applied to change the licence to accommodate repairs to one of the wells. A hydrogeologist looked at the application and became concerned with the amount of water in the aquifer.

Rettie’s counsel said Rettie was not indifferent to his obligations under the Act, and had hired two contractors to assist. However, their efforts were “ineffective” which resulted in non-compliance.

“Mr. Rettie has recognized that there has been some non-compliance, but it’s not as a result of indifference,” counsel said. “There has been no evidence of any environmental adverse effect, and there has been no monetary gain by Mr. Rettie or Agua Properties by virtue of their non-compliance.”

“It was an oversight on our part,” Rettie admitted. “We certainly learned from that issue, but it wasn’t simply a case of not recording information, it was more a case of not reporting to the government website.”

Although Rettie was fined $2,500, including a victim-fine surcharge, court was told the maximum fine allowed under the Act for an individual is $50,000, and up to $500,000 for a corporation. Higher fines are normally reserved for more serious and deliberate offences, such as falsifying documents.

In addition to the fine, Rettie will also be on probation for three years, during which he must comply with the Environmental Protection and Enhancement Act, and the Water Act, as well as regulations, codes and practices associated with the acts.

Aqua Properties was charged with several counts of contravening terms or conditions of a licence under the Water Act, and one charge each, also under the Water Act, for providing false or misleading information and failing to provide information, data, or records as required.

Those charges have been adjourned to June 27, by which time Aqua Properties is expected to have transferred its licence and obligations under the Water Act to the operators of the RV resort, and the charges may be withdrawn.

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