People in Rayleigh and Karindale could soon be able to switch from septic service to the city’s sewage system.

Kamloops council has approved spending up to $75,000 on a study, and residents would vote on switching sometime after that’s done.

Utilities manager Liam Baker says bringing those properties into the city’s sewage would be three-to-five years away from happening.

“The project itself, would include likely a whole new network of gravity sanitary sewer mains, collecting sewage from the entire network. Multiple lift stations, probably – almost certainly – a crossing of the North Thompson River via pipe, connecting to the north end of Westsyde and our network.”

Baker says Rayleigh and Karindale are two of the last Kamloops neighbourhoods with septic and he says they’re starting to see problems with their system.

“They range of course [in price] just like anything, but they’re in the tens of thousands, typically $30,000 to $40,000 dollars per house. If you have a septic field that works properly and you’re not looking to replace it, they may not be supporters of this idea. But they do have a lifespan of 30 to 40 years on average, and so they do fail regularly and lots of Rayleigh residents are experiencing that now.”

A residents group asked council to do a more in-depth study that would pinpoint a cost estimate better, but that would’ve cost up to $250,000. City staff had recommended the study to be done for up to $75,000, which councillors unanimously approved.

“I think this will at least give the residents of Rayleigh and Karindale a little bit of an idea of what they may be getting into or not getting into, and then they can make a decision from there,” councillor Mike O’Reilly says.

“And I do think, as a council, showing environmental leadership, we’d be doing that by getting the study done. At the same time, those residents have to make that decision if that’s something they want to do as well.”

When the study is done, a Local Service Area would be created for Rayleigh and Karindale’s sewage system if properties within that boundary approve it. Residents would pay for 80 per cent of the cost for the work if the project went ahead, while the city would cover 20 per cent.

The approval process would be by a petition, where more than 50 per cent of people would have to be in favor for it to pass; the voting is similar to an alternate approval process, where someone is considered in favor if they don’t vote.

Rayleigh and Karindale have a combined population of about 2,110 people according to the city.