REGINA – Saskatchewan’s auditor says the Environment Ministry has only implemented two of nine recommendations made in 2013 to regulate landfills. Judy Ferguson says that, among other things, the ministry still isn’t inspecting landfills on a regular basis.
Ferguson says in her annual report that the department inspected 138 landfills compared with 58 inspections that were done at the time of her 2013 audit.
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But Ferguson notes 10 out of 30 high-risk sites were not inspected annually and, in one case, it had been five years since the last inspection.
She also found that five of 10 high-risk landfills tested didn’t have their operating permits amended to require groundwater monitoring.
She says that could increase the risk that contamination may not be detected quickly.
High-risk landfills are ones that serve a population greater than 5,000 people, are close to a water source and have soil in the area that is subject to permeation.
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