Lumby wants to stop pumping treated effluent into Bessette Creek. Council instructed staff Monday to apply to the federal/provincial infrastructure program for funds to replace the discharge pipe with land-based disposal of effluent. “It’s the right thing to do,” said Mayor Eric Foster of the proposal. While the village wants to upgrade its current sewage disposal system, Foster wants to make it clear that any discharges into Bessette Creek exceed government guidelines. “We are putting better water into the creek than there is there already, but there’s some things we can’t take out (of the treatment process),” he said. “We’re all trying to make our creeks a better place.” 
Foster points out that the benefits would be far-reaching because Bessette Creek drains into the Shuswap River, which runs into Shuswap Lake and that water eventually makes its way into the Fraser River and Pacific Ocean. Beyond environmental issues, the village expects that government regulations regarding creek discharges may change. “If that happens, we’re hooped. We want to make sure we’re ahead of the game,” said Foster. Foster couldn’t say how much effluent is put into the creek. “It (pipe) is used a lot of the time but there’s not a lot of volume.”
Closing the pipe and switching to a total land-based system doesn’t come cheap. The price tag is about $1.4 million. Because the village has a limited tax base, Foster says assistance from the provincial and federal governments is essential. “It would be very difficult to proceed (without funding),” he said.
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