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Wastewater

Photo: Greater Nanaimo Pollution Control Centre

Wastewater, liquid waste and sewage are terms for used water and the wastes that it carries. These are terms for what is flushed down the toilet or washed down the drain in residential and commercial buildings. It must be treated before it is released into another body of water.

Pollution Control Centres

  • The RDN owns and operates four pollution control centres that treat wastewater that is collected from approximately 134,756 commercial and residential properties:
    1. Greater Nanaimo Pollution Control Centre (104,000)
    2. French Creek Pollution Control Centre (29,000)
    3. Nanoose Bay Pollution Control Centre (1,700)
    4. Duke Point Pollution Control Centre (56 plus BC Ferries)
  • In the City of Nanaimo, the District of Lantzville, the City of Parksville and the Town of Qualicum Beach, and on Snuneymuxw First Nation lands, the collection of wastewater from residential and commercial properties is done by those communities. The wastewater collected by these communities drains into the RDN’s system. The RDN trunk sewer transports the wastewater by gravity, or with pump stations, to a pollution control centre for treatment.

Sewer Service Areas

  • In Electoral Areas A (Cedar) E (Nanoose Bay) and G (French Creek), the RDN operates six sewer service areas and services a total of 3,220 residential and commercial connections:
    • Surfside Sanitary Sewer Service Area (26)
    • French Creek Sewer Service Area (2012)
    • Barclay Crescent Sewer Service Area (244)
    • Fairwinds Sanitary Sewer Service Area (796)
    • Pacific Shores Sanitary Sewer Service Area (15)
    • Cedar Sewer Service Area (128)
      • These sewer service areas are outside city limits and comprise over 20 km of gravity sewer collection mains.
      • The sewer collection systems discharge wastewater into a trunk sewer system that transports the wastewater to pollution control centres for treatment.

Photo: Connecting to an RDN sewer service

Pump Stations

  • To transport wastewater to our pollution control centres for treatment, the RDN operates 22 pump stations. The RDN also has one pump station to transport treated effluent from the Nanoose Bay Pollution Control Centre to the outfall.

Learn more about wastewater services here: rdn.bc.ca/wastewater-services.

Photo: Departure Bay Pump Station

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