B.C. property developer faces new round of wastewater fines

British Columbia’s Ministry of Environment and Parks has issued four wastewater contravention fines to a residential housing development and its director over the threat of fecal coliform contamination to groundwater supply wells beneath an active vineyard near Okanagan Falls.

The fines levied to Vintage Views Developments Ltd. and sole director Johnny Joseph Aantjes totalled nearly $160,000. Those penalties were issued following 112 inspection test samples between 2022 and 2024. Of those, 43 exceeded effluent quality requirements, including 33 samples that breached the fecal coliform limit. 

The fecal coliform exceedances ranged from 3% to 60,400% over allowable limits, the ministry stated. 

Some level of damage had occurred to the development’s wastewater system that caused the exceedances, but the ministry stated that it was not informed of any malfunctions.

“The absence of receiving environment monitoring at minimum poses a risk of harm to human health. Effluent has previously surfaced from the disposal field and overland flow of the effluent was observed,”  wrote the Director of B.C.’s Environmental Management Act, Kelly Mills, in her decision.

The development’s director, Aantjes, has had a long battle with the province over more than a decade. Earlier in 2025, he lost an appeal over improper management of sewage systems that upheld penalties of nearly $200,000 resulting from Municipal Wastewater Regulation violations and pollution prevention orders.

Among the many issues previously found at the housing development were domestic well water that exceeded provincial and federal guidelines for nitrates and coliform. In some instances, the province said that effluent, which surfaced from the system beneath the vineyard, at times exceeded fecal coliform limits by more than 24,700%.

In April 2025, residents of the development voted to approve a plan for the regional district to oversee the Vintage Views wastewater system.