The owner of an embattled wastewater system for the Heritage Hills community on Skaha Lake has been fined almost $200,000 by the province.
The six different administrative penalties levied by the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Strategy and the Ministry of Energy, Mines, and Low Carbon Innovation for multiple breaches of municipal wastewater regulations total $197,000 in fines.
The Vintage Views system currently provides wastewater connections with a max planned capacity of 120 residences in the Heritage Hills development, however at least as of 2022, there are only about 90 connections.
According to publicly available documents posted to the Natural Resources Compliance and Enforcement database, the system has been an issue for years, including three known releases of effluent (liquid waste) from the system where the ministry was not informed, including one that flowed off-site and down an adjacent road and another that surfaced in a nearby orchard.
That orchard was bought, and in 2022 began to be converted into a vineyard. During that process, the new owners plowed through the discharge field’s valve boxes along with other damages to the system that led to effluent flowing from damaged pipes.
The system is currently under two pollution prevention orders, and as a result the Regional District of Okanagan Similkameen, is not issuing building permits for lots within the Vintage Views development until they’re cancelled.
READ MORE: Struggling Skaha sewer system takes step towards Regional District ownership
The effluent being discharged has also been well in excess of limits, with samples submitted between August 19, 2020, and May 6, 2022, showing that the fecal coliform levels were on average 4,920 per cent over the limit with a maximum of 24,700 beyond the limit.
Vintage Views’ owner, Johnny Aantjes, has approached the Regional District of Okanagan Similkameen and proposed that they take it over. A split board of directors in December of 2022 ended up approving $150,000 for a study of the system and the potential cost of taking it over.
The study is not expected to be completed until mid-2023, which will then be followed by public engagement with the users of the systems. If the users approve at that point, it is expected that the transition to a public system during mid-to-late 2024.
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