Sewer project expected to help improve Swan Lake water quality

An area near Swan Lake, north of Vernon, B.C. is one step closer to having a local sewer system.

Politicians gathered in Spallumcheen this week for an official groundbreaking at the site of a planned new wastewater treatment facility.

“The wastewater recovery facility will bring in the wastewater from the surrounding community that is currently on septic systems. It will be initially processed here and then go to lagoons. From there the water will be used on area farms,” explained Spallumcheen Mayor Christine Fraser.

The facility is part of a larger project that is expected to eventually provide hundreds of properties in the Swan Lake area with access to a local sewer system.

“There is a large number of septic systems now that are affecting the water quality in Swan Lake so this has a huge environmental benefit in that it will help clean up Swan Lake for the water quality as well as the wildlife,” said Fraser.

The new sewer infrastructure is expected to serve properties in Spallumcheen, on Okanagan Indian Band Land and in the Regional District of North Okanagan and help the area to develop.

Okanagan Indian Band chief Byron Louis said the band has about 64 acres of land in the Swan Lake area and the new sewer connections will help the band develop land that it previously couldn’t.

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Louis described the project not as an expenditure but as an investment that provides the ability to develop the area safely.

Fraser said Spallumcheen expects to see more industrial development while the regional district has plans for residential projects.

The multi-jurisdiction project has taken almost seven years to get to this point.

“I think any time you are building a wastewater facility for one municipality it is a lot of work, but when you have three entities working together with different things that they want to accomplish it just takes a little bit longer. As well as the environmental process is quite regulated as you can imagine for a wastewater facility, Fraser said.

The first phase of the project is expected to cost more than $40 million with over $33 million coming from the provincial and federal governments.

Construction is expected to start in 2023.