RDOS director going it alone on sewer issue
Maintaining the local government’s handsoff approach to a major sewer problem south of Penticton just isn’t good enough, says the community’s own representative.
Ron Obirek, the director for Area D (Skaha East/OK Falls) on the board of the Regional District of Okanagan-Similkameen, asked Thursday for support from fellow directors and staff in developing a solution to address longstanding concerns with the Vintage Views Development Ltd. sewer system.
The privately owned system, which includes a treatment plant that discharges effluent into septic fields, services the neighbourhoods of Heritage Hills, Vintage Views and Lakeshore Highlands, which lie above the east side of Skaha Lake.
While the RDOS has maintained the sewer system is under provincial jurisdiction and therefore not its problem, it was dragged into the mess in August 2021 when the B.C. Ministry of Environment issued a pollution prevention order that effectively blocks the RDOS from issuing building permits for new homes that would connect to the system.
(The Herald asked the RDOS earlier this month if it shared the ministry’s concerns and was told in a statement: “The regional district is not responsible for the regulation of private sewer systems.”)
Noting the unwillingness of any agency to step up on behalf of the community, Obirek has started meeting with residents, provincial officials and system owner Johnny Aantjes to try to plot a way forward.
Obirek is pushing for a three-part solution: work with the Environment Ministry to lift the order blocking new construction; help Aantjes to get the system into compliance; and begin the process of converting the system into a public utility.
“We have an opportunity here at the local level to listen, to work with our partners…. It’s our planning department that can’t issue a building permit,” said Obirek.
“We’ve got grant money in a bank account that may qualify (to assist with a solution), according to provincial staff I’ve spoken to, and I would like to get a little support from the board and from staff to help get this done.”
Obirek’s report was greeted by silence from his colleagues, only three of whom were physically present in the Penticton boardroom while the other 15 directors were in attendance via videoconference.
As reported previously by The Herald, a top official in the Environment Ministry warned in June the sewer system “poses a high risk of catastrophic failure” because it was only designed to serve approximately 45 homes — about half the number currently connected — and is in dire need of repairs.
Aantjes rejected that assessment, claiming the system flow is at only about one-third of capacity. He also confirmed a willingness to get the system into compliance and convert it to a public utility, but expressed concern about the costs that would be borne by rate payers.
More importantly, Aantjes has bought into Obirek’s plan.
“All the pieces are there,” he told The Herald previously. “We just need some leadership to put the puzzle together and I think we’re going to get there.”