In the goal to allow…

In the goal to allow businesses to begin operations and infrastructure projects faster while ensuring that environmental protection is maintained by exempting low-risk sewage works, guidelines should be put into place to determine what low-risk sewage works are. Specifically the acreage of the parcel of land, distance to neighboring land parcels, and the general hydrogeology of the area should be accounted for when determining low-risk sewage works.

My understanding is that currently the need for an ECA is triggered when over 10,000 l/day septic is required on a property. This applies the same for a 1 acre property and a 300 acre property. As an example:

- Under the current policy 5 adjacent 1 acre lots could have 9,999 l/day septic systems on each 1 acre lot, for a total of 49,995 l/day of septic on 5 acres without an ECA. However, a 300 acre farm parcel requires an ECA if their total septic needs exceed 10,000 l/day.

To re-iterate, policy should be reviewed to exempt low-impact sewage works on large acreage, low-risk parcels, specifically on-farm septic works.