How do septic and water work on a Bowen Island lot?
Water is municipal: Arbutus Ridge sits in Bowen Island Municipality's King Edward Bay system, with a $1,500 connection fee and $214 a quarter on an unconnected lot. Septic is private: Lots 2, 3 and 5 share an engineered field on Lot 10; the other lots carry a 550 m² septic area of their own.
Where does the water come from?
Municipal. The Development is inside the King Edward Bay Water System / Local Service Area, owned and operated by Bowen Island Municipality. The Developer provides water access and hookups to each lot line; the purchaser obtains permits and installs the system from the hookup onto the lot. There are no wells and no private community utility.
Bowen Island Municipality operates seven water systems: Cove Bay, Bluewater Park, Bowen Bay, Eagle Cliff, Hood Point, King Edward Bay and Tunstall Bay, plus the Snug Cove sewer system. Arbutus Ridge is inside the King Edward Bay system. The municipal page describes the King Edward Bay system as serving about 55 homes with roughly 15 more awaiting development, supplied from three drilled groundwater wells, treated and stored in a tank. As of its June 10, 2026 update the system was under Stage 3 water use restrictions — a real constraint on summer irrigation, and a reason the Building Scheme requires rainwater capture for irrigation.
Quarterly metered billing: $350 quarterly base rate plus a tiered volumetric charge of roughly $0.0038 to $0.0200 per imperial gallon depending on consumption; unconnected lots are billed $214 per quarter. The connection fee is $1,500, payable to the Municipality before a building permit is issued; that is the figure quoted in the Disclosure Statement in 2021, so confirm it when you apply.
How is septic handled?
There is no sewer. Every house at Arbutus Ridge treats its own wastewater, in one of two arrangements set at subdivision and registered on title. Vancouver Coastal Health Authority is the regulator for both.
| Lot | Septic arrangement |
|---|---|
| Lots 2, 3 and 5 | Shared engineered field on Lot 10, Plan EPP125322 (PID 031-891-021), one-third undivided interest each |
| Lots 1, 4, 6, 7, 8 and 9 | Own system, in a 550 m² covenant area on the lot |
Of the lots still for sale, Lot 5 is on the shared field; Lots 6, 7 and 8 have their own septic areas.
The shared field: Lots 2, 3 and 5
The Developer built a common field on Lot 10, and each of the three lots holds an undivided one-third interest in that lot as tenants in common. Sewage travels there by forcemain under registered easements: Easements CB466263 (over Lots 3-9) and CB466265 (over Lots 4-9) permit installation, operation, maintenance and replacement of a forcemain sewerage system carrying sewage from Lots 2, 3 and 5 to Lot 10, and prohibit building within the easement area.
Owners of Lots 2, 3 and 5 share the cost and responsibility of maintaining, operating and insuring the Lot 10 septic field and the sanitary line, under registered covenant CB466271, and grant an equitable charge (CB466269) over their lots to the owners of Lots 4, 6, 7, 8 and 9 as security for their shares. An engineer's report on the system must be obtained and provided to the Municipality, with any recommended maintenance carried out.
Covenant CB466278 prohibits any development on Lot 10 other than the septic system, the municipal water main and works, access, and trails. So the field lot cannot be built on or repurposed later.
Your own field: Lots 1, 4, 6, 7, 8 and 9
Each of these lots has a septic area of about 550 m², primary and reserve, identified by a section 219 covenant in favour of the Municipality that prohibits building on it or disturbing it. You design, install and get approvals for the system, to Vancouver Coastal Health requirements. The Municipality may allow the septic field area to be relocated within a lot if an alternative location satisfies both the Municipality and Vancouver Coastal Health.
That covenant area is the single biggest constraint on where the house goes on a half-acre lot, so give it to your architect at the pre-design meeting rather than after the first sketch.
What should a buyer budget for septic?
Honestly: we do not have a defensible number, and we will not invent one. No quote, estimate or design for an individual on-lot septic system at Arbutus Ridge exists on our record, and a system's cost turns on soil, slope, depth to rock, the type of treatment the health authority accepts and how far the field sits from the house. Get a quote from a Registered Onsite Wastewater Practitioner who has walked your lot.
For scale only, and for a different thing entirely: the engineer's 2024 preliminary feasibility estimate for a future phase carried a $250,000 allowance for a communal septic field. That is an allowance for a shared system serving several future lots, with no septic design done, and it is not the cost of one household's system.
What you can do before you buy: ask for the septic covenant plan for the lot, walk it with an onsite wastewater practitioner, and get the quote in writing during the seven-day rescission period.
Shared field or your own — which is better?
| Shared field (Lots 2, 3, 5) | On-lot (Lots 1, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9) | |
|---|---|---|
| Up-front work | The field is already built. Nothing to design or install on your lot. | You design, permit and install the system yourself. |
| Land use | No septic covenant area eating into your building options. | About 550 m² is off limits for building. |
| Ongoing | A registered obligation to share maintenance, operation and insurance with two neighbours, plus engineer's reports to the Municipality. | You alone maintain and repair it, on your own schedule. |
| Risk | Shared decisions, shared bills, and an equitable charge on your lot securing your share. | All of the repair risk sits with you. |
Neither is obviously better. A buyer who wants the least to build and the fewest decisions will prefer the shared field; a buyer who dislikes shared obligations with neighbours will prefer their own system and the covenant area that comes with it.
What else reaches the lot?
- Power. BC Hydro, underground from the distribution line along Windjammer Road and Joan Audrey Lane to each lot line. Permits and on-lot installation are yours; BC Hydro may charge hookup fees.
- Telecom. Brought to the lot line under a registered right of way in favour of Telus. The Disclosure Statement names no service and no speed, and a provider hookup fee may apply.
- Natural gas. Not available - the Disclosure Statement states 'Not applicable' for natural gas. Plan on electricity, a heat pump, or propane.
- Fire. Hydrants were installed to Municipality-approved drawings, and the nearest fire hall is 4 km from the Development. Residential sprinklers are mandatory under the Building Scheme.
What to do next
Ask for the septic covenant plan and the registered charges for the lot you are considering, and put an onsite wastewater practitioner on the lot before the rescission period runs out. We will send the Disclosure Statement and the plans the same day you ask.
Related guides
This is not an offer for sale. Any such offering may only be made with a disclosure statement. E.&O.E.