Super User
How to Report a Complaint
When reporting a failing system or other occurrences please contact your local conservation authority. You will need to provide the following information upon calling our office for the property in question:
- Name of Property Owner
- Civic Address (Ex. 3889 Rideau Valley Dr.)
- Municipality
- Complaint (e.g., I can see sewage pooling on my neighbors’ septic bed)
- Are you a neighbour, councillor, or installer? From the Health Unit, By-Law Office or Building Inspector?
Please note all reports are kept confidential
If you would like to receive a response from us ensure you leave contact information otherwise we will treat this as an anonymous report.
Septic FAQ and Resources
General
NEW BOOKLET: Septic Smart - Understanding your Home's Wastewater System
Septic System/Treatment Units with Annual Maintenance Agreements
Wells
PORTLAND, July 18, 2022 – The village of Portland has been invaded by a new type of yellow fish – but this species is here to help.
The Yellow Fish Road project is just one aspect of a larger sustainable drainage pilot program kicking off this summer, thanks to funding from the Township of Rideau Lakes and support from the Big Rideau Lake Association and Cataraqui Region Conservation Authority. The freshly painted roadside fish are meant to remind residents that storm drains are directly connected to our local lakes, rivers and streams – and that chemicals, fertilizers and feces should be kept well away for the health of the water and the community.
This summer, staff from the Rideau Valley Conservation Authority (RVCA) are investigating novel ways to divert and capture runoff to reduce nutrients reaching Big Rideau Lake. These nutrients – which are washed into the water system as lawn fertilizers, detergents, septic system leaks and more – can cause excessive aquatic weed growth, contribute to harmful blue-green algae blooms and reduce overall water quality.
The project’s goal is to recommend the best sustainable drainage techniques and practices available to help the Township of Rideau Lakes protect water quality for the entire community.
RVCA staff will sample and monitor an urban catchment drain in the village of Portland and a rural non-agricultural drain just outside the village. Staff will also research best practices for sustainable drainage and implement some new practices this fall in an effort to reduce local runoff.
“Our hope is to implement a few demonstration sites around town to really inspire people to get involved,” said Mike Yee, co-project manager, aquatic biologist and planner with the RVCA. “We want to raise awareness among residents that a few simple actions can protect their lake for the long term.”
Many established sustainable drainage practices are easy and cost-effective for residents to embrace right now, Yee said. These include installing a rain barrel, planting a rain garden, moving downspouts to a permeable area and adding native plants to shorelines and ditches.
“If everyone does a little, we can accomplish a lot,” Yee said.
To learn more about sustainable drainage and for practical guides to implementing best practices, visit https://www.rvca.ca/sustainable-drainage-pilot-project-portland.
For more information contact or .
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Sustainable Drainage Pilot Project (Portland)
Township of Rideau Lakes drainage manager Dan Chant joined RVCA intern Caitlin Sommer in Portland this July to paint yellow fish on several storm drains. These fish will remind residents that stormwater goes directly to the lake.The Township of Rideau Lakes has generously funded a pilot partnership with Big Rideau Lake Association, Cataraqui Region Conservation Authority and Rideau Valley Conservation Authority to work co-operatively on a sustainable drainage pilot project in the village of Portland and the surrounding rural catchment area.
As climate change contributes to more frequent and extreme rain events, excess nutrients, sediments, harmful chemicals and pollutants are increasingly washed into Big Rideau Lake through our storm drainage systems. This contributes to increased aquatic weed growth, more toxic algae blooms and an overall decline in lake health and enjoyment.
In summer 2022, staff from RVCA as well as volunteers from the Big Rideau Lake Association conducted a sampling and monitoring program, targeting an urban drain in the village as well as a rural drain (non-agricultural) outside the village. Research was conducted to find and recommend sustainable drainage practices that are best suited to protect water quality and lake health.
Read the Monitoring Report/Summary.
Read the final Recommendations Report.
Resources:
Reducing your runoff can also begin at home – and can be as easy as installing a rain barrel. To learn more about how you can reduce stormwater runoff on your own property, check out the resources below.
VIDEO: Learn how to build a low-cost, low-maintenance rain garden on your property: https://youtu.be/dvgJXlul9Bk
VIDEO: Learn how the RVCA’s Shoreline Naturalization Program offers technical and financial support for waterfront owners to naturally reduce their runoff: https://youtu.be/j2WEnMfRZTo
BLOG: Learn all the simple, cost-effective ways you can reduce runoff on your own property: https://www.rvca.ca/view-all-blog-posts/soak-up-the-summer-storms-reducing-your-runoff-in-the-big-city
BLOG: Learn more about the RVCA’s Clean Water Grants program that supports sustainable drainage and other projects for rural residents: https://www.rvca.ca/view-all-blog-posts/grant-program-makes-clean-water-projects-affordable
INTERACTIVE: Scroll over the pins to learn how you can keep contaminants out of your storm drain: https://www.rvca.ca/view-all-blog-posts/reducing-runoff-which-side-are-you-on
INTERACTIVE: Check out this interactive graphic for sustainable drainage practices on waterfront properties: https://www.rvca.ca/view-all-blog-posts/waterfront-living-which-side-are-you-on
WEBPAGE: Learn more about how to naturalize your shoreline (whether it’s a ditch, stream, river or lake!): https://www.rvca.ca/stewardship-grants/shoreline-naturalization/how-to-naturalize-your-shoreline
Benefits of sustainable drainage:
- Reduced algae blooms and excessive weed growth in our lakes and rivers
- Improved water quality for local ecosystems
- Better water quality for local tourist industries including recreational fishing and seasonal rentals
- Safer drinking water for residents with surface water intakes
- Improved knowledge of sustainable drainage best practices can be applied across the watershed
More Information:
Septic Approvals
The Mississippi Valley and Rideau Valley Conservation Authorities administer Part 8 (Sewage systems approvals) of the Ontario Building Code on behalf of several watershed municipalities (listed below). This means your local conservation authority is responsible for reviewing septic designs and plans, issuing Building Permits for new and replacement sewage systems, and inspecting installations to ensure compliance with provincial regulations.
Learn more on how to submit your application by choosing the municipality where you are installing or replacing a Part 8 sewage system. Not listed below? Check with your municipality to learn about their septic approvals agent.
Who should you call for septic information?
RIDEAU VALLEY, June 10, 2022 – A new network of industrial weather stations will advance the Rideau Valley Conservation Authority’s capacity to track local weather, model future floods and track local climate change impacts into the future.
The RVCA has installed 11 new all-season weather stations across the watershed. These will fill gaps in the current data network, expand RVCA’s list of tracked weather parameters and provide real-time weather data online for use by residents, municipalities, farmers, researchers and even local forecasters.
“Our goal is to develop a watershed-wide model so we understand what’s happening in each part of the watershed,” said Brian Stratton, RVCA’s manager of engineering. “The new weather stations are a key piece in the development of a long-term model that can be used for hazard mapping, flood forecasting and tracking climate change trends.”
The industrial-strength stations – designed to withstand our coldest winters and hottest summers – will collect information on air temperature, dew point, relative humidity, air pressure, solar radiation, average wind speed and precipitation. The data is available through a new public portal on www.rvca.ca/weather-stations.
The addition of these stations will also improve Environment Canada’s ability to provide accurate weather forecasting for the region, as data from RVCA’s new stations will help corroborate what Environment Canada’s radar is predicting.
“It’s a nice relationship,” said RVCA’s hydrometric co-ordinator Justin Robert. “We’ve programmed these stations for our own purposes, but everyone in the watershed will benefit.”
Climate researchers will also rejoice – in 30 years, anyway.
“By recording the real time climate, it’s going to set us up for some extensive knowledge down the road,” Robert said. “These weather stations are going to give us this footprint of our weather into our future, and it will be invaluable information to really understand our watershed and what’s going on.”
To learn more about the RVCA's Flood Forecasting and Warning program, visit www.rvca.ca/watershed-conditions.
New weather stations are located in: Andrewsville, Bobs Lake, Frankville, Kars, Mansfield, Marlborough, Montague, Motts Mills, Rainbow Lake, Snowdons Corners and Westport. For more information contact Brian Stratton at .
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OTTAWA, June 7, 2022 — The Rideau Valley Conservation Authority (RVCA) has completed a hazard mapping study for Mosquito Creek from Mitch Owens Road to the Rideau River, in and around the community of Riverside South. Members of the public are invited to an upcoming open house to review regulation and hazard maps.
Much of the area has been regulated since 2017 when hazard mapping was completed for the Rideau River from Hogs Back to Kars (Rideau River Flood Risk Mapping Report from Hogs Back to Kars, July 2017). This 2017 mapping captured Mosquito Creek from the Rideau River to Limebank Road. This new study reviews past mapping and extends upstream from Limebank Road to Mitch Owens.
The new mapping shows areas that are subject to natural hazards such as flooding and unstable slopes and have natural environmental features such as wetlands. The mapping will be used by the City of Ottawa when updating Official Plans and Zoning Schedules and in the review of development applications under the Planning Act. RVCA will also use the mapping to guide the review of development applications submitted under the RVCA’s Development, Interference with Wetlands and Alterations to Shorelines and Watercourses Regulation.
The goal of this mapping is to help ensure that sound planning decisions are made — keeping people and property safe. Accurate engineered hazard mapping is the foundation of effective floodplain and resource management.
Members of the public are encouraged to attend the open house and/or provide comments on the mapping. The RVCA also welcomes every bit of information that we can obtain about the historical behaviour of local watercourses. Residents and landowners living along these features may have anecdotal or documented information such as photographs or journal entries of their observations during past high-water events or slope failures.
Mosquito Creek Hazard Land and Regulations Mapping Public Open House
Rideauview Community Centre
4310 Shoreline Drive, Ottawa
Tuesday, June 28, 2022
4:30 to 8:00 p.m.
For those unable to attend the open house, mapping can also be seen online at www.rvca.ca/mosquito-creek. Individual or small group meetings (on-line or in-person) can also be booked by contacting an RVCA Resource Specialist at or by completing an online property inquiry form at www.rvca.ca/regulations-planning/general-property-inquiries.
The public consultation period will run until July 29, 2022.
This study is being done through a collaboration involving the City of Ottawa and the Rideau Valley, Mississippi Valley and South Nation Conservation Authorities. The City recognized a need to update its zoning schedules based on up-to-date hazard mapping and has provided contributions enabling the Conservation Authorities to move ahead with these studies sooner than would otherwise be possible. The RVCA is currently working on several studies in the Ottawa area. For a complete list of ongoing work, please visit www.rvca.ca.
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