Minister On Water Resources Act Amendments

“I am tabling the Bill entitled the Water Resources Amendment Act 2024; legislation that will ensure that Bermuda maintains the highest quality of groundwater,” Minister of Home Affairs Walter Roban said in the House of Assembly on Friday.

The Minister said, “The proposed amendments will:

“Establish pollution limits for the ground to help reduce the pollution of public water resources that are below ground and seawater. Create environmental pollution standards under the new regulations. Increase enforcement powers under the Water Resources Act 1975 and the Water Resources [Prevention of Pollution by Sewage from Boats] Regulations 2018. Implement appropriate fines to deter behaviors that pollute the environment. Set timelines to report pollution events to authorities.

“Additionally, the Government will provide best practice guidance online, based on international processes from developed jurisdictions, to inform the public how to reduce the risk of pollution spills.”

The Minister’s full statement follows below:

Mr. Speaker, today, I am tabling the Bill entitled the Water Resources Amendment Act 2024; legislation that will ensure that Bermuda maintains the highest quality of groundwater.

Mr. Speaker, clean water is fundamental to public health and the sustainability of our natural ecosystems. Ensuring the purity of this essential resource protects our community’s health and our island’s economy and preserves Bermuda’s natural beauty for future generations. Monitoring groundwater quality and the status of the freshwater lenses is crucial to managing the island’s water resources.

To achieve these goals, we propose to implement a suite of amendments to the Water Resources Act 1975.

Mr. Speaker, every five years, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources [DENR] issues approximately three thousand one hundred and forty-two [3,142] Water Rights to manage the use of groundwater from wells for various purposes. These include treating groundwater to make potable water, cooling water for buildings, toilet flushing, and irrigation. We also manage about eight hundred seventy-one [871] disposal boreholes, for uses including discharging treated wastewater, road stormwater runoff, and cooling water return from buildings. Well-diggers are also regulated to ensure compliance with the Act.

Recent boat sewage regulations created no-discharge zones close to shore and within various enclosed seas and harbours. Updates to the Act will enable public officers from other Departments to enforce these regulations and assist in identifying habitual offenders who discharge sewage within no-discharge zones.

Mr. Speaker, many environmentally conscious companies already report pollution spills, monitor and clean up soils and waters as part of their operating licenses. This is currently achieved under the Clean Air Act 1991 and only applies to some typically larger companies that operate controlled plants. In order to comprehensively address these issues, it is proposed that they should be dealt with under the Water Resources Act. This will ensure that all polluting activities are controlled to protect human health and the environment.

It is also proposed that new regulations, based on existing cleanup guidelines, will be applied to any person who pollutes. The new amendments will make it an offense not to report a pollution event, allow for Pollution Stop Orders, and mandate the need for abatement and remediation of polluted ground and groundwater. This will significantly enhance the Government’s ability to protect the environment.

The proposed amendments will:

Establish pollution limits for the ground to help reduce the pollution of public water resources that are below ground and seawater. Create environmental pollution standards under the new regulations. Increase enforcement powers under the Water Resources Act 1975 and the Water Resources [Prevention of Pollution by Sewage from Boats] Regulations 2018. Implement appropriate fines to deter behaviors that pollute the environment. Set timelines to report pollution events to authorities.

Additionally, the Government will provide best practice guidance online, based on international processes from developed jurisdictions, to inform the public how to reduce the risk of pollution spills.

Mr. Speaker, due to the importance of these amendments, I invited the public to comment on these proposed legislative changes over a three-week period that ended on July 10th, 2024. Comments were largely discussed by the DENR and consultees via email including Bermuda National Trust [BNT], Mediwaste Ltd, Skyport, WEDCO, and twice for Bermuda Environmental Sustainability Taskforce [BEST]. Additionally, DENR held in-person consultation meetings with stakeholders including BELCO, AirCare Ltd, and the Ministry of Public Works.

Mr. Speaker, as a result of these consultations, some resulted in subsequent minor amendments to the Bill and were completed by Attorney General’s Chambers. Offenses were adjusted to discriminate smaller and larger pollution events in the Bill.

Mr. Speaker, it is proposed that the Water Resources Act will be specifically amended:

1. To extend the authority of public officers to enforce the existing Water Resources [Prevention of Pollution by Sewage from Boats] Regulations 2018 by extending permissions to enter upon any property or land to include any boat or vessel. Permissions already require provision of duly authenticated documentation and are applicable during reasonable hours only.
2. To extend the authority of public officers to take measures to ascertain if public water, including seawater, is, or may become, polluted. This is required to allow public officers to use, for example, inert dye-tablets to prove culpability of suspected habitual sewage discharges from vessels within no-discharge zones under the Regulations. It is noted that vessel means any boat other than a larger vessel to which the Merchant Shipping [Prevention of Pollution by Sewage and garbage from Ships] Regulations 2015 applies.
3. To allow public officers powers to take soil samples for analysis, in addition to existing authority to take water and effluent samples, to establish if the pollution to the ground is sufficient to cause pollution to groundwater/public water.
4. To allow the Minister to require by notice in writing any person responsible for causing pollution to the ground, groundwater, or seawater to [i] stop work immediately to prevent further pollution to the environment [i.e., Pollution Stop Order], [ii] to ascertain the extent of the pollution, and [iii] to provide for mitigation/remediation methods to address said pollution, where failure to comply with the direction given would be considered an offense [subject to appeal] and could result in the seizure of equipment used in contravention of the Stop Order.
5. To increase penalties for various offenses, in line with current expectations, up to a maximum of twenty thousand dollars [$20,000].
6. To include ‘marine outfalls’ under the definition of ‘works’ to help manage discharges to the sea.
7. To increase the Minister’s powers to make regulations that prescribe concentration thresholds for the protection of human and environmental health, based on international best practice, to determine when public water, seawater, or any ground is deemed polluted. The concentration thresholds for ground would be varied depending on proximity to groundwater, pond, coastline, or critical habitat and whether the ground is used or zoned for residential or commercial purposes.
8. To increase the Minister’s powers to make regulations to include the need for landowners in certain cases to keep records relating to the storage of environmental liabilities on the site [i.e., fuels, oils, hazardous chemicals] and to allow for procedures to be recommended to protect the environment against spillage.
9. To allow a public officer to obtain and record information and statistics on the hydrological and hydrogeological groundwater conditions and any level of pollution and, in the absence of agreement, with compensation payable to the landowner for any damage caused for the construction of works.
10. To extend authority under the Bill to include police officers, including the Royal Bermuda Regiment coast guard unit, and other persons authorized by the Minister in writing.
11. To require persons to report to the Minister, as soon as practicable, the discharge of any fuel, oil, waste, or hazardous chemicals into public water, seawater, or ground.
12. To issue guidelines to help reduce the risk of such pollution events, including advice on segregation, storage, and disposal of fuel, oil, waste, and other chemicals that may be hazardous to health, the environment, or property in addition to advice on spill preparedness, and spill abatement, remediation, monitoring, and reporting recommendations.

Mr. Speaker, the Government’s commitment to protecting Bermuda’s water quality is unwavering. These proposed amendments and new regulations are vital steps towards a cleaner, healthier environment for all. It is important to preserve our water resources as it protects our natural ecosystems, our community’s health, our island’s economy, and preserves Bermuda’s natural beauty for the future. I look forward to passing this important piece of legislation the next time this Honourable House meets.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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Category: All, Environment