The Regional District of North Okanagan (RDNO) has been taken to court over a controversial septic system.
It's a case that pits the regional district's responsibility to protect local drinking water against a Coldstream agricultural company's plans to build housing for 96 additional temporary workers.
VegPro International, a division of Vert Nature Inc. and Gestion Verdura Inc., has filed a petition in B.C. Supreme Court with the aim of compelling the RDNO to issue a Proof of Water through the courts.
A Proof of Water is a component of the building permit application process that confirms there is potable water for a new dwelling. VegPro needs the RDNO to issue it in order to build two new worker housing buildings at its 10080 Ricardo Road property.
The lawsuit adds another wrinkle to an increasingly convoluted situation that began when Greater Vernon Water staff expressed concern about the septic system's potential threat to local drinking water in September 2024.
A report to the Greater Vernon Advisory Committee (GVAC) at that time saw staff say the septic system is too close to Coldstream Creek, which feeds into Kalamalka Lake and is a crucial drinking water source. Staff said adding two more housing buildings onto the site's existing septic system could risk effluent spills into the creek.
Confusion as to who signs off on the septic system has abounded in recent months, with neither the RDNO, Interior Health, the District of Coldstream or the Ministry of Environment saying they have the authority to approve or not approve the septic system in response to inquiries from The Morning Star.
A petition was launched in January which echoed concerns about local drinking water safety and called on Interior Health and the province to review the project. The septic system has also led the District of Coldstream to make a motion requesting modernized wastewater and sewerage regulations to the Southern Interior Local Government Association. That motion passed and will now be voted on by the Union of BC Municipalities.
The RDNO has had a stronger mandate to protect local drinking water since 2012, when it was found guilty of not providing potable water and allowing contamination to enter the drinking water system after illegally spread manure found its way into a well, resulting in about 2,000 people losing their water for about two weeks, RDNO general manager of utilities Zee Marcolin confirmed to The Morning Star last week.
This past failure to "find out the sources of potential contamination and eliminate or manage the risk" — as the Justice in the lengthy court case said at the time — appears to have put the regional district in a wary posture when it comes to the VegPro septic system, and VegPro appears to have lost patience in the permitting process that's holding the project back.
New lawsuit launched
Last week, Vernon Coun. Brian Guy raised the septic system issue to council. He said complaints filed by Greater Vernon Water to Engineers and Geoscientists BC have "temporarily stalled" the project.
With the project currently stalled out, the petition filed to the B.C. Supreme Court by VegPro on June 11 aims to jump-start the process.
The petition claims VegPro retained engineer James Kay to review the existing septic system at the Ricardo Road site and determine whether the proposed expansion to the system would be able to accommodate the two new housing buildings. It claims Kay found that adding 96 more workers to the system was possible, and he recommended that building permits for the two new buildings be pursued using the same septic system that serviced the existing buildings at the site.
Court documents show a development variance permit was needed due to requirements set out by a Greater Vernon Water bylaw, and VegPro submitted an application for the permit on July 29, 2024. GVAC recommended the permit be approved by the RDNO board of directors on Sept. 4, but noted the aforementioned concerns regarding the septic field. To allay concerns, the engineer sent information about the system to the RDNO and Interior Health in the following days.
At the RDNO's request, VegPro submitted a Proof of Water form on Oct. 17, 2024, the day after the District of Coldstream had issued a building permit. The company noted the site was already serviced with potable water and a required fire hydrant had already been installed, according to the lawsuit.
Despite Kay's attempts to relieve concerns about the septic system, the RDNO was not convinced that the system's capacity wouldn't be an issue, concluding it was not adequately sized to handle the proposed new housing.
On Jan. 7, the RDNO issued a development variance permit but said it was not prepared to issue the Proof of Water given its concerns.
VegPro offered to limit the number of workers at the site to 156 and to limit the daily flow of the system to 21,500 litres per day until all parties were satisfied that the system was adequate, but the RDNO didn't budge, according to the lawsuit.
The company pointed out that the Proof of Water merely certified that there was RDNO water connected to the property, which the lawsuit claims there was.
"As Vert was continually roadblocked by RDNO over the Proof of Water, and in a further effort to satisfy the RDNO’s concerns, it retained a new engineer to review the current work and propose another septic design," the lawsuit states. "Vert’s engineer subsequently made a further update to the septic design and submitted an amended Record of Sewerage System. This was received and approved by Interior Health on May 27, 2025."
The company said its new plan relocated the additional septic systems to discharge effluent at a different site, but the lawsuit says the RDNO again refused to issue the Proof of Water on June 3, citing concerns about criminal liability under the Drinking Water Protection Act and Greater Vernon Water's bylaw, "by which water connection may be denied if a development poses a significant unacceptable risk," the petition states.
The court documents say the RDNO has now advised it will be requesting an investigation by a drinking water officer.
VegPro has "made every effort to address the recommendations and concerns ... regarding the septic system raised by the RDNO despite the fact that septic systems are outside of RDNO’s jurisdiction," the petition states.
The lawsuit claims the company has faced "significant" financial hardship by being forced to accommodate some of its temporary workforce in alternative temporary housing. The company expects these costs to increase significantly after June 25, when its temporary housing expires and it is forced to use hotels at summer rates.
The RDNO has not yet filed a response to the petition.
