P.E.I. homeowner asks province to end decade-long septic nightmare

After a decade of having her septic system installed, reinstalled and twice approved by provincial inspectors, LindaLannigansays she's still dealing with a smelly mess in and around her home in Commercial Cross.

"I have raw sewage running out in my yard. It's backed up again into my house after me putting new floors down. My floors are ruined again," said a frustrated Lannigan.

"We have a smell of sewer downstairs which is hard to get out. I've had a couch ruined. I've had a lot of stuff ruined and I'm right back to square one."

The sewage backups started shortly after Lannigan built her home near Montague in 2006, she said.

Contractor Allan Graham installed the septic system and inspectors with P.E.I.'s Environment Department approved the installation.

Foiled by soil quality

But two years later, after Graham called on the department to investigate what was leading to the backups, officials found the soil Graham had used as fill during the installation contained too much silt and clay and violated provincial requirements.

The department ordered Graham to reinstall Lannigan's septic system, which she said he did in 2011 under guidance from department officials. After the reinstallation, a provincial inspector again approved the work.

"They made Mr. Graham redo it, and he did, right to the specs of what he was told to do," said Lannigan. "And [provincial inspectors] tested everything. The inspector told me 'everything's fine now ... if the sewer goes down, it'll never be in your time.'"

Lays blame with province

But Lannigan'sseptic system started failing again in 2014, and continues to back up.

Provincial officials have visited her several times over the past year to investigate, and have ruled poor soil quality is again likely to blame, she said.

Lannigan thinks much of the blame lies with P.E.I.'s Environment Department. She wants government to pay to fix her system, for which she's received estimates of between $30,000 and $40,000 to install an engineer-designed system.

"[Inspectors] were paid by the taxpayers to come here and inspect people's property, to make sure this doesn't happen. So why am I in such a mess?" asked Lannigan.

"I want my sewer system fixed. I want my land back. I want my life back ... I just can't do this anymore."

'Up to the contractor'

But the Environment Department does not believe it is to blame for Lannigan's septic woes.

It's ultimately a contractor's responsibility to ensure the fill used during installation meets provincial regulations, said provincial planner Dale McKeigan.

If there were problems with the soil, the level of inspection after installation wouldn't necessarily flag them, he added.

"At that point in time, it'd be more of a visual kind of inspection to make sure everything was laid out properly," said McKeigan.

"We don't go there and do the actual analysis of the soil. Once you go in there and determine the type of soil that's needed, it's then up tothe contractor to provide that quality of fill."

CBC did reach the contractor, Allan Graham, but he declined to comment.

This issue did go to a hearing of the Island Regulatory and Appeals Commission back in 2011. At the time, Graham argued he wasn't responsible for the initial septic system's failure because numerous other contractors had brought in the fill that was used.

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