The Municipality of Bluewater is looking at growth in Bayfield and how it is affecting the community.
A recent report deals with sewage capacity, which has been an obstacle to any new development in the village.
Councillor Bill Whetestone said one of the things they saw in a BM Ross report is there is a large percentage of groundwater infiltration.
“44 per cent of the total flow that's going into our sewage treatment plant is groundwater infiltration, which means that's good water, which means that isn't a good thing," said Whetstone. "But they're suggesting, with some repairs, there's a definite opportunity to increase some capacity there.”
However, that would just bring capacity up enough to service the lots that people have already bought and paid for, but haven't started building.
Council also learned there will also be some population growth in Bayfield over the next 20 years.
“And they actually have come up with a potential new residence of 820 new residents," said Whestone. "But 420 of that is potentially in the first five years, if we were to get a new system in place that could handle that.”
He said the study creates a whole other discussion around how much development do residents in the village want and how many people could the current population absorb without losing the unique character of the village.
