Decision Date: October 14, 1999

Panel: Jane Luke, Sheila Bull, Don Cummings

Keywords: Sewage Disposal Regulation – Schedule 2 – ss. 1, 3, 7, 13(c), 18; conventional septic tank system; wooden septic tank; malfunction; capacity of septic tank; dye test; fairness.

Mr. Mousa appealed a decision of an Environmental Health Officer (“the EHO”) to refuse to issue a permit for the repair of Mr. Mousa’s pre-1985 sewage disposal system. The EHO’s grounds for refusing the permit were his findings that the existing wooden septic tank was substandard in size and design and that the water table at the site was less than four feet below the ground surface. At the outset of the appeal hearing, Mr. Mousa questioned whether the Board has an inherent bias with regard to development projects.

The Panel found that Mr. Mousa offered no specific evidence to suggest that there was a reasonable apprehension of bias on the part of any members of the Board. In the absence of any evidence of bias, the Panel rejected the allegation. The Panel also found that a dye test of the septic system had been conducted fairly by the EHO, in that the system was found to have failed under a normal load scenario and the EHO was found not to have forced effluent to the surface.

The Panel found further that it was satisfied that the system proposed in Mr. Mousa’s permit application would not protect the public health as is required under s.7 of the Sewage Disposal Regulation. Specifically, the Panel found that the existing wooden septic tank did not meet present standards and was substandard in capacity, and that the possibility of discharge of improperly treated effluent into surface waters in an urban centre was sufficient to warrant concern about a health hazard. The panel upheld the EHO’s decision to reject the application for a permit. The appeal was dismissed.