Serving the mid-Island
Septic systems in Nanoose Bay
Electoral Area E — one sewered pocket, shallow soils, and a wet-season water table.
Nanaimo Septic Systems works Nanoose Bay, in Electoral Area E of the Regional District of Nanaimo, where only the Fairwinds service area — 796 properties on the eastern peninsula — is sewered. Conventional ground disposal septic systems are the most common form of wastewater treatment here, so that is most likely what you have.
Only the Fairwinds pocket is on sewer, and every property outside that boundary runs its own onsite system. That's the first thing we check on a Nanoose Bay lot.
Where the Fairwinds boundary runs
The Fairwinds sanitary sewer service area was established in 1988 and covers 796 residential and commercial properties on the easterly portion of the Nanoose Peninsula, served by nine pump stations feeding the Nanoose Bay Pollution Control Centre on Schooner Cove Drive. Every property outside the boundary is on its own system.
The four reasons systems fail here
Local septic failures trace back to shallow soils, high water tables during the wet season, proximity to the ocean front, and the age of the systems. Parts of Nanoose carry all four at once. A disposal field on a thin soil profile above bedrock, within sight of the water, installed in the 1980s, is a common description here, and each of those four things changes how we design the replacement.
Where the water comes from
Groundwater is the predominant supply, reached through individual wells, private water utilities and connections to local community systems, with the Regional District operating a water service area here as well. Part of the community supply is drawn from the Englishman River through the City of Parksville's intake. If you are on a well rather than a community system, the 30 m separation from your sewerage system usually decides how much of your lot you can build on.
Soil depth, water table and distance to the shoreline all change within a few hundred metres in Nanoose Bay, so we measure them on the lot. To get a property assessed properly, 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