Local, on Vancouver Island
Where the sewer service areas end
The Regional District of Nanaimo operates 6 small sewer service areas across 7 electoral areas and 4 member municipalities. Everything outside those pockets — Cedar, Lantzville, Nanoose Bay and Gabriola Island included — runs on onsite septic treatment.
Sewer coverage here is the exception rather than the rule once the city boundary is behind you. The Regional District runs six small collection systems in the electoral areas — Surfside, French Creek, Barclay Crescent, Fairwinds, Pacific Shores and Cedar — and everything beyond them treats and disposes on site.
What decides which authority you deal with
Three of the four communities below sit in electoral areas, so the Regional District is the building authority and the septic filing goes to Island Health. Lantzville is different — an incorporated district municipality since 2003, with sewer Phases I and II complete and, in the District's own words, many properties still using septic systems. Gabriola adds a third layer, because land use there is governed by the Islands Trust rather than by the Regional District.
Areas we serve
- CedarElectoral Area A, on groundwater, with a 128-property sewer pocket at the town core and onsite systems everywhere else.
- LantzvilleAn incorporated district where sewer reaches part of the community and many properties remain on septic.
- Nanoose BayElectoral Area E, where only the Fairwinds pocket is sewered and conventional ground disposal predominates.
- Gabriola IslandElectoral Area B under Islands Trust land use, with no community sewer and groundwater in fractured bedrock.
Also covered: Yellow Point, Cassidy, South Wellington, Extension, Mudge Island and DeCourcy Island.
Coverage runs from the south end of Cedar to the north side of Nanoose Bay and across the water to Gabriola. To find out what a specific property needs, request a site assessment.
Find out what the ground will take.
Free site assessments across Electoral Areas A, B and E and the District of Lantzville.