Beneath the Surface: Understanding Lantzville’s Aging Water System
When we turn on the tap, it is easy to take Lantzville’s water system for granted. Beneath our feet lies an extensive network of underground pipes that deliver drinking water and maintain fire protection across our community.
Much of Lantzville’s underground utility grid was installed decades ago. As this infrastructure reaches the end of its operational lifespan (approx 50 years), our community faces a major financial and engineering question:
Should Lantzville focus its capital resources strictly on replacing aging water mains within our existing network, or should we invest in expanding the system to unserviced neighborhoods?
This article examines the physical state of Lantzville’s pipes, the cost of ongoing maintenance, and the strategic trade-offs facing our municipality.
The Asbestos Cement (AC) Legacy
Like many mid-to-late 20th-century Canadian municipalities, Lantzville relied heavily on Asbestos Cement (AC) piping during its initial utility buildout. AC pipe was the standard material of its era, modern water systems are now built using more durable synthetic materials like Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC) and High-Density Polyethylene (HDPE).
According to District of Lantzville engineering and public works reports, our water distribution network consists of 33,921 meters of underground pipe:
Modern PVC & HDPE Pipe: ~21,293 meters (~63% of the total network)
Aging Asbestos Cement (AC) Pipe:12,628 meters (~37% of the total network)
Having 37% of our entire distribution system composed of aging AC pipe creates significant asset-management responsibilities for the District.
As asbestos cement pipes reach 50 or 60 years of age, their structural integrity degrades. Older AC pipes become brittle and highly vulnerable to ground movement, water pressure surges, and freeze-thaw cycles.
When aging pipes fail, they cause water main breaks, temporary service disruptions, and emergency repair expenses for local taxpayers (a single main repair typically costs between $10,000 and $25,000+: excavation, pipe replacement, traffic control, and road repaving etc). In 2024, Lantzville public works crews responded to major breaks, including a significant failure on Lynn Drive that required drawing 322 cubic meters of emergency backup water from the City of Nanaimo interconnection to keep our local reservoirs stable.
To prevent emergency failures, the District maintains an ongoing AC pipe replacement program. Recent capital replacement projects include:
Harby Road East, Joy Way, and Rossiter Avenue: Full water main replacement to remove aging AC pipe.
Fernmar Road: Upgrading outdated AC water lines and replacing private service connections.
Replacing underground water mains is one of the most capital-intensive responsibilities in municipal budgeting.
The Unserviced Pockets: The Broader Municipal Reality
While public works crews work to replace aging pipes within the connected system, a significant portion of Lantzville still remains outside the municipal grid.
Roughly 600 properties (nearly 25% of Lantzville) are not connected to municipal water lines. These unserviced pockets are spread across several distinct neighborhoods:
The Winds: 141+ residential lots along Northwind, Southwind, Westwind, and Eastwind Drives.
Blackjack / Alger / Clark Drive Area: Established semi-rural residential pockets relying entirely on private groundwater wells without municipal water mains or hydrants.
Superior Road & Normarel Drive Corridor: Semi-rural properties in Upper Lantzville running adjacent to unserviced residential areas.
Upper Aulds Road & Ware Road Outer Lots: Outlying parcels located along upper rural corridors.
Dickinson Road & Northern Acreages: Outer coastal and fringe properties operating on private wells.
Agricultural Land Reserve (ALR) Acreages: Larger rural farm properties across the municipality.
Property owners in these unserviced pockets rely on private groundwater wells, leaving them without municipal fire hydrants or centralized water treatment.
Two Paths Forward: What Should Lantzville Prioritize?
Because municipal financial resources are finite, Lantzville must decide how to balance the maintenance of its 37% legacy AC network with requests to extend services to unserviced neighborhoods.
The Asset-Management View: Fix What We Own First
Proponents of this view argue that the District’s top financial priority must be infrastructure renewal. They contend that taking on millions of dollars in debt to build new water main extensions creates long-term operational liabilities. In their view, tax revenues and utility reserve funds should be dedicated strictly to systematically replacing Lantzville's 12.6 kilometers of deteriorating AC pipe before expanding the footprint of the network. Focusing on existing assets protects current ratepayers from premature system failures and unexpected emergency repair costs.
The System-Expansion View: Growing the Ratepayer Base
Conversely, advocates for utility expansion argue that extending modern PVC and HDPE water mains to unserviced pockets (such as The Winds or Superior Road) strengthens the entire municipal system. Adding connected households increases the total number of utility ratepayers in Lantzville. Over time, spreading the fixed capital and operational costs of the municipal water utility over a larger population helps keep individual user rates stable for everyone. Furthermore, expanding the network creates looped connections that improve system pressure, water quality, and fire flows community-wide.
What Do You Think?
As Lantzville plans its future utility budgets, how should council balance pipe replacement with pipe extension?
Should Lantzville prioritize municipal capital reserves on replacing the 37% of aging asbestos-cement pipes in our existing network, or on extending new water mains to unserviced neighborhoods?
