New wastewater standards due to be released by the Government early next year could have significant impacts on the new Bluff treatment plant.
Mayor Nobby Clark told council yesterday that he understood three new standards would be released, that encompassed discharge to ocean, fast water and sensitive areas.
The current Bluff Wastewater discharge consent expires on December 2025, and a new consent is programmed for application in April 2025, with lodgement no later than the end of June 2025.
But Mayor Clark told the council “I’m not going to jump us into galloping through this until I know what the expectations are.”
He understood that costs at Clifton could be in excess of $200 million, “and we need to be careful that we make the right decision and not load up on ratepayers.”
Mayor Clark said they didn’t need to be in rush, using the example of Dunedin that was 20 years late, and suffered no consequences as a result.
Group manager - infrastructure services Erin Moogan told the meeting she thought it was unusual that Taumata Arowai would recommend that council run its treatment plant out of consent.
She said that under new wastewater standards due to be released in March, council would have to consider the contaminants to be treated if discharging to water, “and the levels that you would need to reach if similarly to land…”
However, she did point out the new standards would still need to go out to consultation with a final decision not likely until August.
She said there had been no conversations around cultural considerations under the new standards, “it’s simply around discharge standards.”
It was very clear to note that whilst councils needed to be aware of the new standards, in light of submitting consents, the Government was certainly not suggesting that they don’t lodge a new consent, and simply run it out of consent.
Their expectation was that councils still lodged a consent in light of those new provisions, to allow them to keep the consent alive while they move through the process.
Erin said the treatment plant at Bluff did provide a high level of discharge quality, that would unlikely to see significant impacts from the new standards.
The issue was left on the table for another meeting in the next month with affected parties, including iwi, including a workshop for councillors to have a clearer picture on what they were facing moving forward.