Fernie wastewater penalty concerns have resulted in a $13,395 administrative penalty from the Province of British Columbia related to compliance issues under the City’s wastewater treatment permit.
The City of Fernie announced the penalty on July 13 following a Ministry of Environment and Parks inspection of the municipal wastewater system in November 2025.
The resulting Compliance Inspection Report was referred by the Ministry for an administrative penalty earlier this year.
The City says the compliance issues reflect a long-standing gap between Fernie’s wastewater treatment permit, issued in 1994, and the way the system operates today.
Major upgrades to the wastewater treatment plant were completed in 2015 with Ministry staff sign-off. However, the upgrades were never formally incorporated into the City’s wastewater permit by the Province.
In October 2025, the City completed a two-and-a-half-year process to prepare and submit an application under the provincial Municipal Wastewater Regulation.
The Municipal Wastewater Regulation is the Province’s current regulatory framework for municipal wastewater systems. Registration will formally authorize Fernie’s existing wastewater infrastructure and the additional upgrades required to meet current treatment standards.
The City anticipates receiving registration under the regulation in early 2027.
Once registration is granted, Fernie will have three years to construct the planned wastewater treatment plant upgrades. The City is targeting full compliance by 2030.
The City says approximately $1 million has been invested during the past three years in environmental studies, wastewater monitoring and engineering design work supporting the registration process.
Final engineering designs for the treatment plant upgrades are now being completed.
The City is also purchasing and installing improved flow-monitoring equipment and renewing efforts to reduce the amount of stormwater entering the wastewater system.
The City says its wastewater infrastructure is facing two related challenges: compliance with the existing permit and significant volumes of stormwater entering the sanitary wastewater system.
Stormwater does overwhelm the system’s treatment capacity during periods of high flow.
The City attributes the problem to increasingly intense storms, aging pipes and manholes, and private properties directing stormwater or groundwater into the municipal wastewater system.
Reducing the amount of stormwater entering the system will be an important part of the City’s work to improve wastewater treatment and meet provincial requirements.
The City says protecting public health and the environment remains its top priority and that it will continue working with provincial regulators as the compliance process moves forward.
Additional information about Fernie’s wastewater system, its current challenges and the proposed upgrades is available through Let’s Talk Fernie.
