Raw sewage will flow without serious government aid, Bay Roberts mayor says

The mayor of Bay Roberts said his town cannot meet federal wastewater and sewage effluent regulations without an infusion of cash from Ottawa and the Newfoundland and Labrador government.

"Newfoundland has such a pristine environment. It's a sin, really, what weare doing," saidPhillip Wood, who added that his town is willing to shoulder its share of the cost of installing a wastewater treatment plant.

• Billions of litres of raw sewage, untreated waste water pouring into Canadian waterways

Wood saidthe pollution of waterways is a serious issue that must be dealt with immediately, but he added thatthe funds the federal governmenthas budgeted to tackle the problem are "only a drop in the bucket."

Wood saidBay Roberts has been working to close the town's outfalls, two of which remain open.

Gulls and ducks can be seen scavenging about half a kilometre from the town, where a pipe carries the effluent.

Dumping doubled in N.L.

Effluent discharged into rivers and oceans has doubled in Newfoundland and Labrador since 2012, when Ottawa introduced tougher standards for wastewater disposal under the Fisheries Act.

Documents obtained by CBC News from Environment Canada show that towns in Conception Bay discharged 1.2 billion litres of waste, the highest amount of any region in the province.

The entire province spewed 10.6 billion litres of untreated wastewater and raw sewage into the environment in 2015, more than double the fivebillion litresemitted in 2013.

'It's a sin, really, what we're doing."- Phillip Wood, Mayor of Bay Roberts

"If we're promoting Newfoundland as the place to come, we have to do our part to do it up," said Wood.

If towns are going to meet the 2020 deadline for compliance with the federal regulations, Wood said,"there has to be some government strategy developed and developed soon."

Townswarned to comply with regulations

Since 2015, Ottawa has issued written warnings to a long list of towns across Newfoundland and Labrador.

Those towns are Arnold's Cove, Baie Verte, Bishop's Falls, Fortune, Gambo, Glovertown, Holyrood, Marystown, New-Wes-Valley, Old Perlican, Placentia, Point Leamington, Port-aux-Basques, Port-au-Choix, Rodickton-Bide Arm, St. Anthony, St. Lawrence, Salmon Cove, Upper Island Cove, and Whitbourne.

Wood saidunincorporated towns and service districts are also part of the problem.

"You have approximately 270 incorporated towns and approximately 320 local service districts," he said.

"You can't leave out this group. If you're making incorporated areas follow these regulations, what about all the areas that aren't incorporated?"

$500-million price tag

Karen Oldford, who chairs the Atlantic caucus of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities, said the $2 billionearmarked by the federal government to stem the tide of pollution from effluent is not enough.

Oldford, who is also the mayor of Labrador City, saidinstalling treatment plants and upgrading infrastructure across Canada has been estimated to cost $18 billion.

"For our small province of 500,000 people, it's estimated it would cost $500 million that's just for the wastewater," said Oldford.

"In one small community, they have 300 outfalls into the ocean. That's one community," she said.

"Everybody wants to get there, but it's going to take a lot of years of funding."