Strata says the Village of Anmore won’t let it connect to the Port Moody sewer system

Some people in Anmore are concerned after E. Coli and fecal coli-form bacteria was leaked into an area near two schools.

The waste is coming from the private septic field of Anmore Green Estates, according to the strata’s president Robert Boies.

He said the Ministry of Environment has since ordered Anmore Green Estates to fence off the area with warning signs, continue to work with professionals, and to hook up their system to the Port Moody sewer system to fix the issue.

But Boies says while the first two orders are under way, the Village of Anmore is making the idea of connecting to the Port Moody sewer difficult.

He says it’s because the village is concerned that all of Anmore would have to then join the Greater Vancouver Sewer District.

“Although they told us to go away and solve the problem ourselves, we came up with a 100 per cent cost recovery, myself and my neighbours will pay for all costs for this hook up and pay a premium for any outflows that go into the metro sewer system in the future. But the Village of Anmore has been blocking any attempt for us to do that.”

He says he wanted to see it all fixed before before children go back to school on Monday.

Anmore’s Acting Mayor Ryan Froese says the Village is not part of the Greater Vancouver Sewer District and are instead on septic systems, which is saving them a lot of money in taxes.

“We’re not saying no to anything, we’re just saying you’re part of Anmore. Just like the rest of Anmore, when your septic fails, you’ve gotta fix it. That’s what happens, you’re on septic, that’s what everybody buys into and you have to do it.”

Froese says people can’t just section off a piece of the municipality to make it a different designation.