About Us

We are fortunate that we’re able to work on all types of wastewater projects from small individual property systems from home owners, up to and including large facility level systems for commercial clients. Our pricing is competitive and all of our projects are provided the same level of diligence from a professional.

In British Columbia, both Registered Onsite Wastewater Practitioners (ROWPs) and qualified Professionals can act as Authorized Persons for onsite sewerage systems. The appropriate professional depends on the type, size and complexity of the project.

A ROWP can plan, install and maintain Type 1 and Type 2 systems within the scope of their registration, including systems with a daily design flow below 9,100 litres.

A Professional Engineer can work with any and all systems however, must be involved where a project has significant site constraints, additional technical requirements, or requires engineering judgment beyond the scope of a ROWP's practice. This includes working with Type 3 systems and systems with design flows above 9,100 litres per day.

For larger or more complex projects, a Professional Engineer is responsible for engineering the system, preparing sealed plans, specifications, providing professional oversight during construction, commissioning the system, and providing a comprehensive maintenance package.

Black Dog Septic Engineering provides professional engineering services for onsite wastewater projects ranging from individual properties to larger and more complex systems.

Not every septic system in British Columbia needs a Professional Engineer (P.Eng.).

Many straightforward residential systems can be designed and managed by a Registered Onsite Wastewater Practitioner (ROWP). Professional engineering becomes more important when a property presents limited space, environmental constraints, or other site conditions that make a conventional system unsuitable.

Examples include:

• Small or tightly constrained properties where there is limited room for a suitable dispersal area;
• Shallow, difficult, or variable soils;
• High groundwater or limited separation from bedrock;
• Steep or complex terrain;
• Nearby wells, creeks, lakes, wetlands, or other water features;
• Limited setbacks from property lines, buildings, or other site features;
• Projects requiring advanced treatment or a Type 3 system;
• Larger or more complex commercial or multi-unit properties; or
• Projects where the wastewater characteristics or site conditions require engineering beyond a standard onsite wastewater system.

A Type 3 system is specifically a professional-supervision system under BC's Sewerage System Regulation and may be used where higher treatment performance is needed to address site or environmental constraints.

The 9,100 litre/day threshold is another regulatory trigger, but it is unlikely to be the deciding factor for most typical residential projects.

The important question is not simply how many bedrooms a property has, it's whether the site can safely accommodate the proposed wastewater system.

If you're unsure what your property requires, Black Dog can review the site constraints and proposed use and determine the appropriate design pathway before you invest in a full design.

The timeline depends on the property, system size and complexity, site conditions, availability of existing information, and the requirements of the project.

For a straightforward project with readily available information and suitable site conditions, the design process may be relatively quick. More complex projects can take longer, particularly where additional site investigation, engineering, treatment-system selection, revisions, coordination with other professionals, or additional regulatory requirements are involved.

Once the design is ready, the Authorized Person submits the required Record of Sewerage System and supporting documents to the applicable health authority before construction begins. Health-authority filing procedures and processing times can vary by jurisdiction. For example, Vancouver Coastal Health states that its staff will contact the applicant within five business days after a filing is submitted to arrange payment, but this is not a guaranteed overall project or approval timeline.

The best way to get an accurate timeline is to provide the project details so we can assess the scope and identify any site or regulatory issues early.

A Letter of Certification (LOC) is a document submitted to the applicable health authority by the Authorized Person after construction of a sewerage system covered by the BC Sewerage System Regulation.

The LOC certifies that the Authorized Person has provided the owner with the filed plans and specifications and a maintenance plan, and that the system was constructed in accordance with standard practice and substantially in accordance with the plans and specifications filed with the health authority. The certification also addresses the system's expected domestic sewage flow and whether, when properly operated and maintained, the system will cause or contribute to a health hazard.

The Authorized Person must submit the Letter of Certification to the health authority within 30 days of completing construction. The LOC is accompanied by an as-constructed plan and maintenance plan, and the owner receives copies of the relevant documentation.

The Letter of Certification is therefore an important part of closing out a sewerage-system project and not simply a receipt or confirmation that construction occurred.

The more information we have at the beginning, the more accurately we can understand the scope of work and determine what information or site investigation may be required.

When contacting Black Dog, it is helpful to provide:

• Project location or civic address
• Type of property or proposed development
• Existing or proposed building use, including: number of bedrooms, occupants, units, future expansion plans, and other relevant occupancy information
• Existing septic or wastewater-system information, if unknown a filing can be pulled from local authority
• Site plan or survey, if available
• Information about wells, watercourses, lakes or other nearby features
• Known site constraints, such as steep slopes, limited available area or difficult access
• Project timeline
• Whether this is a new system, alteration, repair, replacement or expansion

For larger commercial or development projects, it is particularly helpful to provide any available architectural, civil, servicing, or development plans.

If you don't have all of this information, that's okay. Start with the property location, project description and what you're trying to accomplish, and we can help determine what is needed next.

In British Columbia, onsite sewerage systems are classified as Type 1, Type 2 or Type 3 based on the level of treatment achieved by the treatment method.

Type 1

Type 1 treatment is essentially treatment by a septic tank. The septic tank provides primary treatment by allowing solids to settle and separating solids and liquids before effluent is dispersed into the soil.

Type 2

Type 2 treatment provides a higher level of treatment than a conventional septic tank, prior to entering the dispersal field. Under the Sewerage System Regulation, Type 2 effluent must consistently contain less than:

• 45 mg/L total suspended solids
• 45 mg/L five-day biochemical oxygen demand (BOD₅)

Type 3

Type 3 treatment provides an even higher level of treatment prior to entering the dispersal field. Under the Regulation, Type 3 effluent must consistently contain less than:

• 10 mg/L total suspended solids
• 10 mg/L BOD₅
• 400 CFU/100 mL median fecal coliform density

Type 3 systems must be designed, constructed and maintained by or under the supervision of a Professional.