Project Updated March 18, 2026

At its meeting on Monday, March 23, 2026, Council will discuss this report outlining steps being taken to address flooding risk and overcapacity in the Ruthven sanitary sewer system. The report provides a financial summary which shows revenue from new sewer fees on greenhouse operations, as well as expenses, revealing a shortfall in funding. Finally, the report provides a brief litigation update respecting the challenge by the Ontario Greenhouse Vegetable Growers to the new sewer fees and by-laws affecting greenhouse operations.

Although the Ruthven Pump Station is still not operating at full capacity, and sewer backups in wet-weather remain a risk to residents in Ruthven, Administration is recommending that no major new sewer infrastructure spending move forward until the Court provides direction. This is because the court case could significantly affect the Town’s revenues needed to pay for infrastructure upgrades, particularly if fees collected under the 2025 sewer by-laws must be refunded to greenhouses.

Residents are encouraged to review the full report for a complete overview of the system challenges, compliance progress, financial details, and the status of the ongoing litigation.

Staff Report:

Ruthven Sanitary Sewer By-laws, Financial Reporting, and Litigation Update

• Appendix A: Project Initiation - Installation of Sewage Meters Project Set Up
• Appendix B: Lakeshore West Annual Ferric Consumption, Cost and Flow Report
• Appendix C: Ruthven Pump Station - Capacity Increase (Project to Date)

Project Update from August 12, 2025

The Town of Kingsville is pursuing short and long-term strategies to improve and increase capacity of our sanitary sewer infrastructure. The Town has recently become involved in litigation with Ontario Greenhouse Vegetable Growers, which has initiated a legal proceeding concerning the Greenhouse Sanitary Sewer By-law. This organization represents member greenhouses throughout the province. The Town remains committed to finding permanent solutions to protect residents from flooding. However, residents should be aware that necessary steps to address the capacity issues may be delayed since this matter is now before the courts.

The Challenges

Treatment Plant Issues

• In 2022, we received notification from treatment plant operators that Kingsville's wastewater treatment plant is over 80% capacity. This notification triggered a study for expansion of treatment plant capacity, which will ultimately service future growth in Kingsville. Project status.
• Chemical costs to remove nutrients like phosphorus and nitrogen (which are found in fertilizer typically associated with greenhouse process water) have increased significantly since 2015. This causes difficulty in treating the wastewater.

Sanitary Sewer Capacity Issues

In August 2023, Kingsville was hit by an extreme storm that deposited 214 mm of rain in less than 36 hours.

• Overland water entered sanitary sewers, causing basements to flood on the southwest side of Kingsville.
• Surcharged sanitary sewers caused sanitary waste to back up into basements in Ruthven.

The Municipality launched an investigation to find ways we could make our system more robust.

Investigations 2023 - 2024

• The Town completed smoke testing throughout Ruthven and other areas affected by the storm. We found that 60+ residents were improperly tied into the sanitary sewer, which is allowing rainwater into the system. This is problematic as rainwater is not supposed to get into the sanitary sewers.
• The Town conducted flow monitoring throughout Kingsville and Ruthven and discovered the volume of wastewater in Ruthven is exceeding pump station capacity. Monitoring suggests:
  • 76% of all flows in the Ruthven sanitary sewer are from greenhouses
  • Greenhouses are pumping on-peak hours when they should be pumping off-peak (as a condition of their connection agreement).

The Town’s consultant recommended we prohibit any new residential, commercial, and greenhouse connections into the existing sanitary sewer in Ruthven until peak flow rates are reduced.

Short-Term Solutions

Interim Control By-law

At its Monday, April 14^th meeting, Council received a report related to capacity at the Ruthven sanitary system. In response to concerns raised in the report, Council, through an Interim Control By-law, directed Administration to undertake a more detailed review of the issue and provide recommendations to address these issues. This by-law was meant to be in place for one year, during which time the construction, alteration, or expansion of any building or structure in Kingsville that would add discharge to the Ruthven sanitary system would be prohibited. At the same time, Council also directed Administration to take immediate steps to improve flow rates and capacity of the Ruthven sanitary system, which were already in progress. It was understood that if efforts improved capacity there could be opportunity to permit projects while the studies were being completed.

Please review the Council Report and Interim Control By-Law.

Pump Station Capacity Improvements:

• An oversized pump was rented and installed in the pump station
• A large, specialized pump, previously installed at the pump station, achieved flow rates of 59 L/s. It has been rented for use as a backup to the primary pumps
• A pump truck company has been contracted to remain on standby with a contingent of fleet that can be dispatched to the pump station quickly in the event of an emergency

At its Monday, August 11, 2025 Council meeting, Council approved an amendment to the Interim Control By-law that removed restrictions and prohibitions on residential and industrial building permits, with the exception of subdivisions. This was recommended solely due to the temporary measures the Town has implemented to improve pump station capacity and contingencies put in place in case of an emergency. The by-law continues to restrict building permits for new residential or industrial plans of subdivision, or new agricultural or greenhouse operations, because the Ruthven sanitary sewer system is still overcapacity.

Learn more by reading the Council Report: Ruthven Sanitary System Capacity Update and see the amended Interim Control By-law.

Long-Term Solutions

Greenhouse Sanitary Sewer By-law

At its Monday, May 5, 2025 Council meeting, council approved a Greenhouse Sanitary Sewer By-law to regulate the connection and discharge into Kingsville's Sanitary Sewer System by greenhouses. The By-law and permitting requirements for greenhouses connected to the sanitary sewer included:

• Discharge Regulations (limits on the quantity, quality, and frequency of discharges permitted into the sanitary sewers)
• Flow Monitoring (requirements for the installation of remote flow monitor devices to ensure compliance with the permit)
• Fines and Penalties (a schedule of enforceable fines and penalties for non-compliance with the by-law and the associated permits)
  • Permit fees to fund the start-up costs associated with the new sewage metering and flow monitoring program
  • Fixed quarterly connection charge to offset the annual operating costs of monitoring flows, discharge, sampling, plus one additional full-time staff dedicated to ensuring ongoing compliance with the Sewage Use By-law
  • Increase to the metered sewage discharge rate from $1.87 to $3.07 per cubic meter to fund a portion of the additional chemical and biosolids removal costs (As amended in Kingsville's Water and Sewage Rates By-law )
• Disconnection (instances of non-compliance will result in disconnection from the sanitary sewer system)

Please review the Council Report: Greenhouse Sanitary Sewer By-law and Greenhouse Sanitary Sewer By-law for more details.

Task Force

In June, The Ruthven Sewer Expansion Task Force was created, bringing together industry and Town representatives. It includes representatives of the greenhouse sector, housing development, and industrial properties with business interests in Ruthven. The Task Force has been working to open dialogue and develop a long-term plan for expanding capacity in the Ruthven sanitary sewer.

Litigation

On August 8, 2025, the Town received notification of a legal proceeding initiated by Ontario Greenhouse Vegetable growers related to the Greenhouse Sanitary Sewer By-law, which may slow down resolving capacity issues. The Town intends to move forward with enforcement until ordered otherwise by the courts. The initial court date is on August 21, 2025 in Kitchener.

We will continue to update this page as new information becomes available.