Under provincial legislation (Environmental Management Act) the Regional District can develop a Liquid Waste Management Plan (LWMP) to accommodate existing or future development with a strategy that ensures the management, resource recovery and disposal of treated waste is sufficiently protective of public health and the environment. 

This is considered to be an economical and effective method of providing a comprehensive plan for managing a community’s liquid waste. 

In 1994, the RDOS Board approved what was then referred to as a Wastewater Management Plan for the communities of West Bench (Electoral Area “F”) and Naramata (Electoral Area “E”): 

The impetus for these plans was the Okanagan Basin Study (1974) which identified residential onsite sewage disposal systems located in areas adjacent to water sources, or in permeable soils in areas of high groundwater, as a source for significant phosphorous transmissions to Okanagan Lake. 

Following the declaration of the Okanagan Valley as an environmentally sensitive area in the 1980s, a series of Wastewater Management Plans (WWMP) were initiated, including those for West Bench and Naramata. 

The Greata Ranch property comprises multiple legal titles east of Highway 97 and bounded by Okanagan Lake representing several hectares of land that have generally been zoned for medium and low density residential uses since the 1990s (if not earlier).  

Even at low intensities, this zoning would allow for 75 to 90 units on the site, while the medium density zoning could allow for a total capacity of over 300 units. 

To address this development capacity of the site, an amendment to the Electoral Area “F” WWMP was completed in 2009 in order to establish a preferred option for the management of wastewater for the proposed Greata Ranch development, specifically; pumping sanitary sewage waste to a wastewater treatment facility located in Summerland.  

The length of the forcemain required to connect Greata Ranch and Summerland would be approximately 11 kilometres, depending on the final connection location.  This sewer extension would have the added benefit of permitting the connection of several nodes along the lakeshore between Greata Ranch and Summerland (e.g. Okanagan Lake Provincial Park, Lombardy Bay and, what was referred to at the time as “Tranquil Bay”). 

In February of 2009, Summerland Council resolved to support this option, in principle and subject to normal development conditions and requirements for the connection to and use of the District of Summerland’s infrastructure and utilities.  

The RDOS Board passed a resolution that they approved the preferred option and the Stage 2 report on April 2, 2009.