Decision Date: January 6, 1997

Panel: Bob Radloff

Keywords: Sewage Disposal Regulation – ss. 7(1)(2); schedule 2, ss. 1, 16, 22, 18(a)(b); health hazard, discretion of Environmental Health Officer.

This was an appeal by Mr. Hamer-Jackson against a decision of the Senior Environmental Health Officer (the ‘SEHO’) to cancel a permit for the upgrade of a pre-1985 sewage disposal system for Mr. Hamer-Jackson’s property. The permit was cancelled because the proposed system violated some of the requirements of the Sewage Disposal Regulation.

Under s.7(2) of the Act, the Environmental Health Officer (the ‘EHO’) may approve modifications to a system in need of repair or alteration, even if it cannot be upgraded in accordance with the Regulation, provided that the system will not constitute a health hazard. The Board found that, in the circumstances, the existing system was in need of repair, and that it could not be upgraded in compliance with the Regulation. The Board further found that the proposed sewage disposal system could be a health hazard because there was a good chance the effluent from the proposed seepage bed might reach the nearby Shuswap Lake too quickly, due to the slope and the presence of fractured rock.

However, the Board concluded that these problems could be overcome. Therefore, it ordered that the original permit be issued, provided that secondary treatment was added to the system and the discharge was alternated between the existing disposal field and a seepage pit. The appeal was allowed.