Serving the mid-Island
Septic systems in Cedar and Yellow Point
Electoral Area A — bedrock aquifers, private wells, and a sewer pocket that stops at the town core.
Nanaimo Septic Systems works Cedar, in Electoral Area A of the Regional District of Nanaimo, where groundwater is the primary water supply and a sewer service area of just 128 properties covers the town core alone. The aquifer under you and under Yellow Point is Aquifer 162, rated low productivity and high vulnerability.
Almost every property outside the town core here treats and disposes on site, and almost every one of those draws drinking water from the same ground. That is why setbacks are the first thing we check on a Cedar lot.
The ground under Cedar and Yellow Point
Aquifer 162 is a bedrock aquifer of the Cedar and De Courcy Formations covering roughly 84.2 km², rated low productivity and high vulnerability, with a historical decline of 0.43 m per year. Near the coast it carries tidal influence, with total dissolved solids measured across a range from 200 to 13,000 mg/L. Cassidy sits over sand-and-gravel aquifers instead. What that difference means in practice is that two properties a few kilometres apart can need different disposal designs for the same house.
Where the sewer actually reaches
The Regional District established the Cedar sewer service area in 2010. It covers 128 residential and commercial properties in the town core and on parts of MacMillan Road and Cedar Road, piped to the Duke Point Pollution Control Centre on Jackson Road. Everything outside that boundary — which is most of Cedar, Yellow Point and Cassidy — runs on onsite treatment, and the Electoral Area A Official Community Plan expects that to continue outside the growth containment boundaries.
Wells, lots and the 30 m rule
A sewerage system must sit 30 m from a well supplying a domestic water system. A provincial groundwater quality survey covering South Wellington, Cassidy and North Oyster noted areas of high small-lot density where some wells may already sit closer than that separation to a septic field. On a small older lot the setback usually decides where a replacement field can go, and sometimes it means a higher treatment standard is the only way to fit one in.
Soil depth and well position vary lot to lot across Electoral Area A, so we measure both. To find out what a Cedar property can support, book a site visit.
Nearby service areas
Find out what the ground will take.
Free site assessments across Nanaimo and surrounding areas.
Text or call (236) 362-1344