Preventing the Discharge of Deleterious Substances

What is a Deleterious Substance?

A deleterious substance is any substance that, if added to water or is present in the water, would adversely affect the water quality and potentially harm aquatic organisms (including fish or their habitat) and humans. A deleterious substance has the potential to be lethal (death) or sub-lethal (tissue damage). Sub-lethal effects can impact fish and animal growth, respiration, reproduction, larval survival and can contribute to or be the cause of abnormal development. Deleterious substances can also affect people and their enjoyment of a lake or river. Many recreational property owners source water from the water body they enjoy, and maintaining a high degree of water quality is very important to them and all the users of the lake or river.

Examples of common deleterious substances:

Sediment

Sediment is fine-grained particles like sand, silt and clay that typically originate from soil erosion. While erosion is a natural process, the most concentrated sediment releases often come from soils disturbed or exposed by human activities such as some construction activities and agricultural runoff.

Hydrocarbons

Hydrocarbons are a class of organic chemical compounds made up of hydrogen and carbon. They have many different properties depending on the size but generally do not dissolve easily in water, and are present in motor oil, gasoline, coal, natural gas, solvents (e.g., paint thinner), plastics and pharmaceuticals.

Pesticides

Although pesticides are beneficial to rid crops of pests, they can, through surface runoff or groundwater infiltration, accumulate in lakes, streams and water supplies. These chemicals can be acutely toxic or can bioaccumulate in animals (like fish and humans) or plants over time and affect the health of that organism.

Heavy metals

Heavy metals are metallic chemical elements that occur naturally in the earth’s crust and cannot be created or destroyed. Heavy metals are often toxic or poisonous, sometimes even at low concentrations. Some examples of heavy metals include lead, mercury, arsenic, copper, zinc and cadmium. People and the environment can be exposed to heavy metals through improper use or storage of pesticides, batteries, paints, treated timber, dyes, plastics, electrical appliances, and from mining waste and vehicle emissions.

Nitrates and Phosphates

Nitrates and phosphates are essential nutrients for plant growth but excessive amounts in the aquatic environment can lead to an overgrowth of plants and algal blooms. Common sources of nitrates and phosphates include sewage, fertilizers, feces from livestock and detergents.

Sewage

Sewage is a type of wastewater that a community, municipality or individual (in the case of private systems) produces that consists of greywater and blackwater. Untreated or improperly treated wastewater that is released to natural water bodies or watercourses can introduce pathogens such as viruses, bacteria, parasites, pharmaceuticals and excess nutrients to the receiving water.

Mitigation Measures When Working Near Water

To reduce the likelihood of a deleterious substance entering the water, consider the following:

prevent or minimize ground disturbance when working near water.
prevent or minimize disturbance to the actual water body (i.e., the bottom of the lake or creek).
prevent all fuels, greases and other harmful materials from entering any water body.

*Sediment fence and erosion control blanket used during a culvert replacement project*

Minimize the disturbance of the shoreline and minimize the mobilization
of sediment near water by:

Using existing access routes where possible; don’t disturb more area than you need to.
Minimizing removal of riparian vegetation – leave trees and shrubs intact next to the water.
Placing and stabilizing spoil piles so they cannot enter the watercourse or water body; move spoil piles behind a berm or into a lower area so soil can’t wash into the water body.
Using only clean materials to stabilize shoreline and banks (i.e., if you use rocks, they should be clean and free of fine soils or other contamination to prevent materials from washing into the water body).
Using temporary sediment and erosion control measures (sediment fence or erosion control blankets, etc.) to prevent soil from moving into the water; inspect and repair these measures and maintain them until you stabilize the project.

Bringing a work site back to a state of permanent stability should be the end goal of all projects when working near water. Exposed soils should be seeded to grass or other perennial vegetation and eroding or unstable areas should
be armoured using material such as appropriately sized rock.

Definitions to know:

Minimize disturbance to the water body bed by:

Limiting the amount of machinery or heavy equipment that needs to enter the water; if possible, only booms, buckets, and other tools or implements necessary to complete the project should enter the water while the machinery is in a stable area above the waterline.
If machinery or heavy equipment must enter the water to complete the work, then the work area must be isolated (see Site Isolation) before starting the work.

Prevent fuel or other hazardous substances from entering the water by:

Ensuring machinery and equipment at the project site is clean and free of fluid leaks or accumulations of external contaminants that may include, but are not limited to, oil, fuel, grease, other lubricants, soils, mud or plant materials.
Cleaning, fuelling, servicing and storing machinery and heavy equipment in a manner that will not contaminate the bed, bank or boundary of any water body or watercourse.
Storing hazardous substances such as fuel, oil, grease, paint and solvents where they will not contaminate any water body or watercourse.
Having secondary containment for all stationary and portable fuel tanks, pumps and engines within 100 metres of a water body or watercourse. For example, if using a pump and fuel supply near water, you must place them in a container capable of holding at least 110% of the total volume of fuel and oils. That way, if a spill were to happen, all of the fluids would stay contained and not spill out.
Having appropriately sized spill kits for clean ups on site and accessible at all times. Cleaning up all spills of harmful substances and disposing of it properly at approved sites.
Immediately containing and reporting all spills of any oil, fuel hydraulic fluids, hazardous substances or waste dangerous goods to the nearest Ministry of Environment office. All spills meeting or exceeding the quantities specified in the The Environmental Management and Protection (Saskatchewan Environmental Code Adoption) Regulations, 2010 must be reported and handled according to the regulations. The Provincial Spill Control Centre (Spill Line) is 1-800-667-7525. Visit the Government of Saskatchewan’s Hazardous Spill Reporting page for more information. (See Saskatchewan Environmental Code Discharge and Discovery Reporting Standard for quantities specified)

The information contained on this page is intended to help plan your project; it is not an approval to conduct any work in or near water. It is the project proponent’s (the person completing or owning the project) responsibility to ensure that no deleterious substances are released into the environment. The project proponent must respect all municipal, provincial and federal legislation (e.g., Fisheries and Oceans Canada) that applies to the work being carried out. Please contact the Water Security Agency if you have further questions, or to apply for an Aquatic Habitat Protection Permit.

Contact Information:

Water Security Agency, Aquatic Habitat Protection
300-2365 Albert Street
Regina, SK S4P 4K1
306.787.0726