Achi news desk-
If you live in the Halifax area and need septic services, you may have to wait.
Capacity issues are one of the main dumping grounds, meaning businesses that depend on it are left in limbo.
“Right now, this truck is only for septic, so it’s basically an anchor, just sitting there,” said Mark Pratt, owner of Sea to Sky Portable Restrooms and Septic Services.
“We’re in peak season at the moment, and we usually book two weeks in advance, so we’ve had to contact our customers and say, ‘Right now, we can’t do it.'”
Pratt knows of at least six companies directly affected.
It is a concern for Hammonds Plains-St. Councilor Margaret Pam Lovelace.
“This is not a new issue. The industry has been concerned about it for a long time, but it’s new now because of the lack of the West Hants facility, so that’s driving septic haulers to try and find space to go,” said Lovelace.
Lovelace said this was happening at a busy time in the region. Across the Halifax Regional Municipality, there are approximately 48,000 properties on septic systems.
“We are growing very quickly, and large multi-unit buildings are now on septic fields, and we are in the tourist season, which means that businesses need to have their septic tanks emptied within each two to three days,” Lovelace said.
“In addition to that, people are selling their homes and they need to get that septic certificate. They need to know it’s been cleaned, and also we have backups going on.”
Construction site in Hammonds Plains, NS (Source: Stephanie Tsicos/CTV News Atlantic)
Septic works are carried out by private operators who must dispose of the waste at a designated septic waste management facility.
“Although Nova Scotia and Environment and Climate Change do not have a regulatory role in the operational aspect of septic tank cleaning, we are helping HRM and Halifax Water by providing information on other facilities that have the capacity to take septic waste while a facility West Hants in action. at reduced capacity,” said a spokesperson for Nova Scotia’s Department of Environment and Climate Change.
The municipality does not play a direct role in supporting property owners with private septic tanks.
“The Department of Environment and Climate Change has compiled a list of facilities that can accept sewage from private haulers. This list includes privately operated facilities and those run by other Nova Scotia municipalities and provided to private carriers who have requested it,” said a spokesperson for HRM.
Lovelace hopes the municipal and provincial governments can find a long-term solution. Pratt hopes that can happen sooner rather than later.
“You have to have a plan to handle it. It’s not like people are going to say, ‘Oh, okay, we’ll do it next year.’ Today alone we’ve had two 911 calls about septic, that people have issues,” Pratt said.
