A B.C. Court of Appeal Justice has granted the Cariboo Regional District a reprieve from a judge's order to construct an overflow system to help prevent any further sewage from flooding onto a Wildwood-area couple's property.
The project is included in a checklist of steps B.C. Supreme Court Justice Matthew Taylor ruled in August the CRD must take to remediate the property, twice hit by overflow from a nearby sewage line.
A gravity-fed system with a 100,000 litre storage capacity and a high level alarm system was supposed to be in place on the property by November 1, but in a decision issued October 29, Court of Appeal Justice Peter Willcock granted the reprieve while the CRD carries on with an appeal of Taylor's judgment.
The CRD had argued the system is considered a low priority and the $200,000 cost would be borne by the ratepayers on the Wildwood sewage system.
However, Willcock declined the CRD's request for a temporary stay on paying for tests to verify the extent of contamination on the property.
Depending on the outcome of those tests, the CRD argued it could be on the hook for as much as $1 million in soil remediation costs before the appeal is heard.
But Willcock noted, in part, that work would still need to be approved by Taylor.
"Whether such an order will be made and, if so, what cost it might entail, are matters of speculation," Willcock said. "There is now no order to pay particular remediation expenses."
The CRD told Willcock the bill for the testing could add up to $112,000 before the appeal is heard and even if the appeal is successful, the CRD not be able to recoup that cost.
The property, owned by Bawnie and David Ward, is located at the lowest point on the gravity-fed system that serves nearly 200 properties in the community north of Williams Lake.
They had taken the CRD to court over a March 2015 flood when, in April 2020, they were hit yet again by another surge, which was then added to the couple's claim.
Taylor had set an August 15, 2022 deadline to have the work completed.
