KITCHNER – On March 31, 2011, Cor Pannekoek Construction Ltd. pleaded guilty to one violation under the Ontario Water Resources Act and Cornelis Martinus Pannekoek pleaded guilty to one violation under the Nutrient Management Act for the improper construction of a liquid manure tank and subsequent spill from the tank which impacted a creek.
The Court heard that Mr. Pannekoek is the director of the company. The company was hired to help with an expansion of Hogendoorn Dairy in the Regional Municipality of Waterloo. This expansion included the construction of a new liquid manure tank and transfer lines between an existing liquid manure tank and a new liquid manure collection system. The liquid nutrient transfer system was installed without ensuring a flexible watertight gasket or membrane between the wall of the storage tank to serve as an anti-seepage collar as required by Nutrient Management Act. On February 22, 2009, during the first transfer and filling of the new liquid manure tank, approximately one million litres of liquid manure leaked from a connection at the new tank, ultimately entering an unnamed tributary of Bamberg Creek resulting in a significant fish kill.
Following the laying of charges on June 24, 2010 by the Ontario Ministry of the Environment's Investigations and Enforcement Branch, the company was convicted and fined $40,000 and Mr. Pannekoek was convicted and fined $3,500. The fines totaled $43,500 plus victim fine surcharges (an additional 25%). The company was given 12 months to pay the fines.
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