Here's the poop

By Mary Richardson

Health & Wellness - May 7, 2021

As chair of the Capital Regional District (CRD) Liquid Waste Commission for the last few years, I’ve come to realize that there’s more to flushing than meets the eye. It seems easy enough: just throw things down your toilet or sink and they magically disappear!

Not so! It’s really important to pay attention to the rest of the story. Here on Salt Spring your drains either go to a septic tank or a sewer treatment plant. In both cases, what you put into the system matters a lot.

Firstly, only poop, pee and toilet paper should go down the toilet. Please don’t throw wipes, hygiene products, condoms, cotton swabs, or dental floss down the drain. Even if it says flushable on the package, our systems can’t handle it! (The same goes for grease down the kitchen sink.)

Secondly, only green cleaners should be used when they are going to enter the system, either septic or sewage. (As a veterinarian and animal welfare consultant I encourage you to use only non-tested-on-animals products throughout your home.) These cleaners are non-toxic and will biodegrade once they leave your home.

It's also really important for septic tank owners to have regular pump-outs. Every 5 years is the recommended schedule. I’ve heard from a number of sources that Salt Spring’s sewage is the thickest in the land. Not sure if this is from all the kale we eat, or whether we just need to pump more often, but it would really help down the line if we kept our tanks cleaner.

As taxpayers, we spend over $400,000 per year on trucking our poop off island. Once it leaves your house, it travels to a holding station near Burgoyne Bay. (The sludge from sewer treatment plants goes there too.) The haulers deliver it into tanks and then those big blue trucks pump it out and take it to Victoria. All the extras that get flushed really clog up the system and add a lot of work for the haulers, and a lot of cost to us to fix the equipment. We could save lots of money and make everyone’s job easier if we took care of our drains!

Learn from the CRD about Protecting Your Septic System and Protecting Plumbing.

Mary Richardson
Chair, CRD Liquid Waste Commission

7 responses to “Here's the poop”

myna lee johnstone

3 years ago

Thanks Mary.
People used to urban/suburban living are conditioned to dump things away.
Those of us who grew up rural know not to waste water and know that the vegetable water goes on the garden.
Stores could cooperate and not sell toxic products for laundry and cleaning.
DennisL

3 years ago

Thank you Mary for this informative post. I certainly agree about the importance of tending and caring for our home septic systems including regular pumping-out and other maintenance. A few years ago I heard (rumour? true?) that a "living machine"percolation-series type of sewage-treatment option would be practical for Salt Spring Island -- these systems typically, in my understanding, have a settling pond or a concrete-lined tank, linked to a series of marsh-like natural filtration areas that clean the water making it suitable to run off into the soil at the final stage.

The problem with this? The Capital Regional District staff, so it was told to me, found this 'unsafe' -- which to me sounds like a bureaucratic way of saying staff is reluctant to try an unconventional system -- and this, despite that many such systems are in place around the world.

I would welcome some professional and/or scientific practical perspectives on this topic -- as we all are certainly paying an awful lot of extra money to truck enormous tankloads of liquid waste off-island.
Justin Credible

3 years ago

Thank god for composting toilet systems for some of us.
Annie2

3 years ago

Great work! The more intelligent we are with our waste and garbage on land, the better our air, freshwater and oceans will fare too.
Mielle Chandler

3 years ago

Thank you!
Mielle Chandler

3 years ago

Mary, thank you so much for writing this!

I am a new/budding septic designer, installer, and educator on SSI. I first got into sewerage when I was hired to research, write, and design a community education centre for a nearby small island on how septic systems work, and the importance of good sewerage for preserving lake and groundwater health. This community features the septic education centre/kiosk in a prominent place, right beside the local cafe and food store. It is designed a hang-out spot, so the information is readily accessible and seen by everyone.

Through my work on SSI I have become aware of two issues which potentially threaten groundwater health. One is that some landholders, when faced with septic issues, are unable to come up with the significant funds necessary to replace their systems. I would really like to help start an emergency sewerage subsidy or bursary fund which landholders who need emergency repairs to or replacement of a system, but who are unable to fully finance this work, can apply to for assistance. The health of our groundwater is so important to all of us, and to the future of human habitation on this island, that this seems to me like a very worthwhile community fund.

When I realized this--just under a year ago--and this leads to my second concern regarding preserving groundwater health--I contacted the Islands Trust Planning office and left a message with a planner to find out who I should get in touch with about this idea.

Instead of responding to me, I suspect the planner contacted Bylaw Enforcement. I suspect this because Bylaw Enforcement then decided to come down hard on me for the temporary bucket-system outhouse I was using while I prepared to put in a second septic system on my homestead. After being evicted from my trailer for allegedly sleeping in it for more than 90 days in a calendar year, I was allowed to return to home on the condition that the bucket outhouse be pumped on a weekly basis. This would have cost $700 a week--which amounts to $100 per bowel movement. Luckily, because I work in the septic industry, I was able to get our second septic system installed within 10 days of receiving the notice.

The notice from Bylaw Enforcement illustrated to me that this kind of enforcement actually endangers our groundwater health because it forces people to hide their outhouses from Bylaw Enforcement Officers. The last thing we need is for people to be hiding their outhouses!!! Instead, we need outhouses to be placed in locations that safeguard groundwater should there be a spill or leakage, and we need these outhouses to be designed well and in accordance with regulations.

Sitting in on the November 10th 2020 LTC meeting brought up more concerns for me. In this meeting a junior planner was putting an unfortunate couple through a lot of unnecessary grief over their septic system which had a component a bit too close to a shoreline. Although the septic system had been recently installed, and the name of the ROWP (registered onsite wastewater practitioner) who installed the system was clearly apparent in the documentation, the junior planner took it upon herself--with no septic training or licensing--to interpret the SPM (the Standard Practice Manual we use to design and install the systems) and deem this couple's system in violation. The Trustees and the Regional Planning Manager watched, facilitated, and participated in this.

The appropriate approach would have been to contact the ROWP. In situations like this an engineer or hydrologist is sometimes needed to warranty the safety of the system, or, if changes are needed, to prescribe those changes. It is the ROWP's job to facilitate this. For an untrained planner to assume authority over deciding wether or not a septic system is allowable is a dangerous overreach which potentially creates a great deal of grief and huge unnecessary costs for residents and property holders.

Is it possible for you to work with Islands Trust to find better ways to deal with residents regarding septic issues? Perhaps we could form a small committee to put forward some good recommendations to the Islands Trust Planning and Bylaw Offices?
Pierre Frisch

3 years ago

May I suggest that we should change the regulatory system forma prescription base system to a result oriented one.

The "Standard Practice Manual" is old and the system it propose and antiques. Even the classification between Type 1, 2 & 3 is bizarre. Type 1 system are just a hole in the ground and should be installed. Most registered practitioners I have talked to have a hard time explaining clearly the difference between a type 2 & 3. Why not have a more clearly defined result oriented system where the quantity and type of effluent you are allowed to reject is regulated not how you do it.

By the way, for anyone wondering the responsible thing to do is to install a type 3 as it is the safest for the environment. If you talk to the right people a type 3 system is no more expensive than a type 1 are the increased equipment cost is compensated by the decreased earth work necessary.

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