Septic Systems in East Sooke

Is East Sooke part of the District of Sooke?

No. It is an unincorporated community, and it sits inside the Juan de Fuca Electoral Area of the Capital Regional District. That electoral area runs along the southwest coast of Vancouver Island, and it elects a director who sits on the Capital Regional District's Board.

Who issues your building permit?

The Capital Regional District runs the building inspection service for its electoral areas, and within Juan de Fuca that service covers East Sooke and Otter Point. The District of Sooke's building bylaw does not apply out here.

How does the Island Health filing work here?

The filing is provincial, so it works out here the same way it works inside a municipality. Before construction, an Authorized Person files with Island Health — the Filing form, the drawings and specifications, a site plan, and any covenants, easements or hydrogeological reports that apply. We hold the practitioner registration, and we file for you.

What septic work do we do in East Sooke?

We build new systems on East Sooke properties, and we repair failing ones — the field, the distribution box, the pumps and floats. When you are buying or selling out here we inspect the system and write the report.

What if the ground will not take a system at all?

It happens, and it is better to find out early. Where a parcel of land cannot take a sewerage system, the owner may put in a sewage holding tank instead. We say so as soon as the pits are read and the profile is logged, rather than after a design has been drawn and paid for. A holding tank changes how you live on the property, and we go through what that would mean for you before you commit to anything.

Which maintenance bylaw covers a property out here?

The regional district has a maintenance bylaw for onsite sewage systems. It is the Onsite Sewage System Maintenance Bylaw No. 3479, and it was adopted in 2007. It applies in Colwood, Langford, Saanich, View Royal and North Saanich, with North Saanich coming in on 1 January 2025. The places we work in are not on that list.

Where the bylaw does apply, a Type 1 system has to be pumped out at least every 5 years, and the owner keeps the records of it. The septage treatment facility reports the pump-out to the regional district. The regional district gives an example — a tank pumped out on February 1, 2025 needs the next one by February 1, 2030.

How often does a tank actually need pumping?

Where it applies, the regional district calls a pump-out on that schedule a minimum amount of maintenance. It notes that many systems need pumping more often than that, depending on the size of the tank and the activities in your home. We open the tank and look at it before we tell you when the next visit is due.