{
  "name": "Storm sewer discharge rules for vehicle washing in the GTA",
  "description": "What each Greater Toronto Area sewer-use by-law prohibits from reaching a storm drain, as it applies to washing a vehicle, read from the region's or city's own published by-law. Rows are regional where the by-law is regional. By-laws we could not read are omitted rather than inferred.",
  "publisher": "WashDash (washdash.ca)",
  "page": "https://washdash.ca/pros/detailers/mobile-detailing-water-rules-gta",
  "license": "Free to reuse with attribution to washdash.ca",
  "coverage_note": "Durham Region — Pickering, Ajax, Whitby, Oshawa, Clarington, Uxbridge, Scugog and Brock — is the gap. Durham's own storm sewer page names Sewer Use By-Law No. 55-2013 and links to it, and on 30 August 2026 that link returned 404 to us, as did the document URL behind it. We know the by-law exists and we have not read a word of it, so Durham is not in the table. If you detail in Durham, assume the same visible-film rule applies until the Region tells you otherwise, and ask them: the by-law is listed at durham.ca under regional government and by-laws.",
  "row_count": 5,
  "rows": [
    {
      "municipality": "Toronto",
      "row_url": "https://washdash.ca/pros/detailers/mobile-detailing-water-rules-gta#toronto",
      "question": "Can wash water go down a storm drain in Toronto?",
      "answer": "No. Municipal Code Chapter 681, § 681-4, bars any discharge to a storm sewer with a visible film, sheen or discolouration, and caps suspended solids at 15 mg/L. A first offence carries up to $50,000, plus $10,000 for each day it continues.",
      "status": "Visible film prohibited; suspended solids capped at 15 mg/L",
      "requirement": "Municipal Code Chapter 681, § 681-4, bars discharging or depositing matter of any type into a storm sewer that has a “visible film, sheen or discolouration” or “two or more separate layers”, or that could result in any hazard or adverse impact to a person, animal, property or vegetation. Table 2, “Limits for Storm Sewer Discharge”, caps total suspended solids at 15 mg/L, total phosphorus at 0.4 mg/L, biochemical oxygen demand at 15 mg/L and copper at 0.04 mg/L, and sets pH between 6.0 and 9.5. Under § 681-14.1 a person contravening § 681-4 faces a fine of up to $50,000 for a first offence and $100,000 for a subsequent one, and a continuing offence carries up to $10,000 for each day it continues, uncapped in total.",
      "source_label": "City of Toronto — Municipal Code Chapter 681, Sewers (PDF, consolidated to 15 May 2023)",
      "source_url": "https://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/municode/1184_681.pdf",
      "last_checked": "2026-08-30",
      "also_read_label": "City of Toronto — Municipal Code Chapter 545, Licensing (PDF, consolidated to 1 January 2025)",
      "also_read_url": "https://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/municode/1184_545.pdf",
      "also_read_checked": "2026-08-30"
    },
    {
      "municipality": "Mississauga",
      "row_url": "https://washdash.ca/pros/detailers/mobile-detailing-water-rules-gta#mississauga",
      "question": "Can wash water go down a storm drain in Mississauga?",
      "answer": "No. Storm Sewer Use By-law 0046-2022, § 3.2(c), prohibits a visible film, sheen or discolouration, and § 3.3(a) bans oil, grease and fuels in any amount. Residential pool water gets a named exception; vehicle wash water gets none.",
      "status": "Visible film prohibited; pool water is exempted and wash water is not",
      "requirement": "Storm Sewer Use By-law 0046-2022, § 3.2(c), prohibits any discharge with “a visible film, sheen or discolouration on the water surface”, and § 3.3(a) prohibits a discharge containing oil and grease, fuels, paints and organic solvents in any amount. Schedule A caps total suspended solids at 15 mg/L and total phosphorus at 0.4 mg/L. The exceptions in Part 4 are worth reading for what is not in them: residential pool water gets a named carve-out with five conditions attached, and vehicle wash water gets none. Fines under §§ 8.25 and 8.26 run to $10,000 for a first offence and $25,000 for a subsequent one for an individual, and $50,000 and $100,000 for a corporation, for every day the offence continues.",
      "source_label": "City of Mississauga — Storm Sewer Use By-law 0046-2022 (PDF)",
      "source_url": "https://www.mississauga.ca/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/25163721/Storm-Sewer-Use-By-law-0046-2022.pdf",
      "last_checked": "2026-08-30",
      "also_read_label": "",
      "also_read_url": "",
      "also_read_checked": ""
    },
    {
      "municipality": "Brampton and Caledon (Region of Peel)",
      "row_url": "https://washdash.ca/pros/detailers/mobile-detailing-water-rules-gta#peel-region",
      "question": "Can wash water go down a storm drain in Brampton or Caledon?",
      "answer": "No. Region of Peel Wastewater By-law 53-2010, Part 4, prohibits a discharge with visible film, sheen or discoloration, a pH outside 6.0 to 9.0, or a temperature above 40 °C, and caps suspended solids at 15 mg/L.",
      "status": "Visible film prohibited; same 15 mg/L solids cap",
      "requirement": "Peel's Wastewater By-law 53-2010, Part 4, prohibits discharging matter into a storm sewer with “visible film sheen or discoloration”, two or more separate layers, a pH below 6.0 or above 9.0, or a temperature above 40 °C, and prohibits any amount of combustible liquid, fuel or hauled waste. Table 2, “Limits for Storm Sewer Discharge”, caps biochemical oxygen demand at 15 mg/L, total suspended solids at 15 mg/L, total phosphorus at 0.4 mg/L and total Kjeldahl nitrogen at 1 mg/L. Mississauga is inside Peel too, but has its own storm sewer by-law on top of this one, which is why it has a separate row.",
      "source_label": "Region of Peel — Wastewater By-law 53-2010",
      "source_url": "https://peelregion.ca/by-laws/by-law-number-53-2010",
      "last_checked": "2026-08-30",
      "also_read_label": "",
      "also_read_url": "",
      "also_read_checked": ""
    },
    {
      "municipality": "Markham, Vaughan, Richmond Hill and the rest of York Region",
      "row_url": "https://washdash.ca/pros/detailers/mobile-detailing-water-rules-gta#york-region",
      "question": "Can wash water go down a storm drain in Markham, Vaughan or Richmond Hill?",
      "answer": "No. York Region’s Sewer Use Bylaw 2021-102, § 5.1(c)(ii), prohibits a visible film, sheen or discoloration, and § 5.1(d)(ix) bans oil and grease with no threshold attached. The bylaw covers all nine York Region municipalities.",
      "status": "Visible film prohibited; oil and grease banned in any amount",
      "requirement": "York Region's Sewer Use Bylaw 2021-102, § 5.1(c)(ii), prohibits a discharge to a storm sewer or land drainage works exhibiting “a visible film, sheen or discoloration”, and § 5.1(d)(ix) prohibits a discharge that contains or is likely to contain “oil and/or grease” — with no threshold attached, unlike the numeric limits elsewhere in the same section. Table 2 of Schedule A caps total suspended solids at 15 mg/L, total phosphorus at 0.400 mg/L and biochemical oxygen demand at 15 mg/L. The bylaw applies across York Region, so it reaches Markham, Vaughan, Richmond Hill, Newmarket, Aurora, Whitchurch-Stouffville, King, East Gwillimbury and Georgina alike.",
      "source_label": "The Regional Municipality of York — Sewer Use Bylaw 2021-102",
      "source_url": "https://www.york.ca/yorkregion/bylaws/sewer-use-bylaw",
      "last_checked": "2026-08-30",
      "also_read_label": "",
      "also_read_url": "",
      "also_read_checked": ""
    },
    {
      "municipality": "Oakville, Burlington, Milton and Halton Hills (Halton Region)",
      "row_url": "https://washdash.ca/pros/detailers/mobile-detailing-water-rules-gta#halton-region",
      "question": "Can wash water go down a storm drain in Oakville, Burlington or Milton?",
      "answer": "No, and Halton’s window is the tightest we read. By-law 2-03, § 5(1)(h), prohibits visible film, sheen or discolouration, a pH outside 6.5 to 8.5, or water above 30 °C. Its storm-sewer section carries no numeric table at all.",
      "status": "The tightest window we read — and no numeric table at all",
      "requirement": "Halton's By-law 2-03, § 5(1)(h), prohibits a discharge to a storm sewer with “visible film, sheen or discolouration”, with “dye or colouring materials or other matter which discolour the water”, with a pH below 6.5 or above 8.5, or with a temperature above 30 °C. Both of those numbers are tighter than every other by-law here: the others allow pH 6.0 to 9.0 or 9.5, and allow 40 °C. Section 5 carries no numeric limits table — the by-law's only schedule of concentrations, Table 1, is for sanitary and combined sewers — so for storm drains in Halton the qualitative test is the whole test.",
      "source_label": "The Regional Municipality of Halton — By-law No. 2-03 (PDF)",
      "source_url": "https://www.halton.ca/repository/by-law-2-03-wastewater",
      "last_checked": "2026-08-30",
      "also_read_label": "",
      "also_read_url": "",
      "also_read_checked": ""
    }
  ]
}