Discharge Approval Frequently Asked Questions

Under the City’s Sewer Use By-law 025-2024 (PDF), the City of Vaughan has the responsibility to maintain and protect the integrity of the City’s sewer infrastructure, control the quality and quantity of sewage or storm water or land runoff entering the system and protect the health and safety of citizens by preventing any harmful chemicals entering the system. All discharge to the City’s storm or sanitary sewer system is strictly prohibited unless approved by the City.

Yes, for current City dewatering discharge application fee is, $1,740 (plus tax). Please refer to the City’s Wastewater Rates and Service Fee Bylaw for other fees. This can be found on the City’s Sewer Use By-law page. For all temporary dewatering discharges into the sanitary sewer system, the fee is based on the water meter read and charged at $0.7268 per cubic meter of water. All discharge approval applications are issued on a renewable basis, renewal fees apply. View other fees on the sewer use page.

Fees can be made at the time of submission online. All major credit cards are accepted.

All applications are now received and updated online. An online account will need to be created by the owner (applicant) or their representative.

The City may issue temporary or permanent discharge approval based on the nature of water or wastewater to be discharged. For example, the City will issue temporary discharge approval for dewatering discharge from a construction site covering the construction period, or if you need a permanent discharge of water or wastewater, the City will issue a permanent discharge approval, scheduled for annual review, at the responsibility of the applicant.

Applications can be submitted by the applicant (owner) or their authorized representative. An online account will need to be created by the person submitting the application.

The City reserves the right to deny any application for the following reasons:

• the application is incomplete.
• the applicant did not upload all required attachments.
• the water or wastewater quality does not meet the City’s Sewer Use By-law 025-2024 (PDF) standards.
• the City’s storm or sanitary sewer system does not have enough capacity to carry additional discharge.

Yes, certification of insurance will be required per the City requirements, to be provided on the City’s Standardized Insurance Certificate. Insurance requirements are noted in the application process and guidelines.

Permanent discharge is always sent to the storm sewer system. If there are capacity constraints to the system, the City does not issue an approval. A temporary discharge also goes to the City’s stormwater sewer system, but there are cases when the City may allow the discharge to a sanitary sewer system instead. Discharge to the City’s sanitary system is considered an exception under the Sewer Use By-law 025-2024 (PDF) and approvals are at the discretion of the City.

Processing time is typically between eight to 12 weeks from the time of application submission to approval.

Prior to applying, the applicants are required to determine the location of water or wastewater discharge and submit plans and associated documentation as part of the application for the City to review. Permanent discharge always goes to the storm sewer system, and the City does not approve discharge to sanitary sewer system due to capacity constraints. The temporary discharge also typically goes to the City’s stormwater sewer system, but there are cases when the City’s staff may allow discharge to sanitary sewer system under certain circumstances.

Any changes that impact the terms of the discharge approval will require an amendment to the approval; there are no additional fees associated with amendments. The associated documents that need to be revised can be uploaded online. The online application website remains accessible to the applicant for submission of documents and edits even after the approval is issued. Documents related to the amendment can be submitted online along with a cover letter explaining the changes intended. The City will review and contact the applicant should any additional documentation or clarification be needed. An approval of the change is required before action is taken.

Yes, the discharge approval outlines the terms and conditions the applicant must fulfill during the tenure of discharge approval as well the City’s Sewer Use By-law 025-2024 (PDF). The online application website remains accessible to the applicant for submission of compliance documents during discharge.

Terms and conditions are set out in the discharge approval, and prior to any discharge, the City’s By-law and Compliance, Licensing and Permit Services is required to be notified for water quality sampling results and to undertake site inspections to ensure that the discharge setup is consistent with the approval. Any inconsistencies are to be rectified prior to any discharge to the City’s storm or sanitary sewer systems and the rectification works must be approved by a by-law enforcement officer.

The security of the discharge approval is collected at the time of the execution of the site plan agreement. Security is provided in the form of a contribution in the amount of $40,000. For clarity, the contribution amount has been calculated based on the replacement cost of the dewatering infrastructure installed within the premises and the costs to provide quality and quantity sampling and reporting for a period of two years.