After considering public feedback results, the Cariboo Regional District (“CRD”) will be authorizing a feasibility study for a proposed community sewer system in Bouchie Lake. The Board of Directors made the decision at its May 24, 2024 Board meeting.
“I am grateful that the Board has agreed to fund the feasibility study,” said Barb Bachmeier, Director for Electoral Area B, “This feasibility study will help my constituents to get the information they need to make an informed decision on whether or not to move forward with a sewer system in the future.”
The feasibility study will be funded out of the CRD’s Rural Feasibility Study Fund, which was built up through general CRD taxation, and is expected to cost about $50,000 to complete. The funding will be allocated, starting in 2025, to ensure that necessary authorizations and resources can be obtained to complete it, and study results would be expected in the second half of next year.
The Board has reaffirmed its commitment to engage further with the Bouchie Lake Community as this initiative proceeds, and will keep area residents informed about the study’s progress and future public engagement opportunities. When engagement occurs, the CRD will work with residents to ensure that their concerns and aspirations about the system are directly reflected in the options developed through the feasibility study. These concerns and aspirations, expressed at the public open house on April 30, included:
* Understanding how much the system will cost and how it will be funded, and managing the cost of establishing any service;
* Defining the benefits to the Bouchie Lake Watershed;
* Defining the service area based on technical feasibility, financial capability, and environmental sustainability;
* Location and operation of a sewage treatment plant for the system; and
* Determining who would pay for connecting to the system and for decommissioning private systems.
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