Protesters picket in bid to stop Queenstown council sewage plan

Protesters picketed a Queenstown wastewater plant as they called on the council to scrap plans to discharge treated sewage into a local river.

Last week Queenstown Lakes District councillors were briefed behind closed doors about dumping more than 12,000 cubic metres of treated effluent per day into the Shotover River.

Councillor Niki Gladding revealed the confidential plan, accusing the council of secrecy.

The council said it needed to act to address uncontrolled discharges and a rising bird strike risk, but it was confident water quality would not be impacted.

But protesters said the river was at risk and the council had not been transparent.

The protest near the plant started hours before the council was due to go public with the plan.

Their signs included 'Toot not to Pollute' and 'Save Our Rivers', prompting a cacophony of honks from drivers.

Queenstown Community Action co-organiser Nikki Macfarlane said the council had a history of a lack of transparency and poor communication.

"If these were issues, why wasn't anything being done? It wasn't being communicated to the public. It also wasn't being communicated to councillors and then on top of that there was constant misinformation that there wasn't a problem here," she said.

"If there wasn't a problem, what happened that made it an emergency?"

The district council said it was being forced to use emergency powers under the Resource Management Act because the Shotover Wastewater Plant's disposal field had failed due to poor design.

It meant discharging was expected to start within days.

Council infrastructure operations manager Simon Mason they needed to act because the disposal field used to discharge treated wastewater into the ground was already discharging into the river.

He also raised concerns that ponding water was attracting water fowl and increasing the risk of bird strike to nearby aviation.

Issues with the field used to discharge wastewater into the ground became apparent in 2021 and the council had tried to fix the problem, he said.

But it had degraded to the extent that it was deemed not fit for purpose since about the middle of last year.

They investigated alternatives including expanding the field, bird netting and exploring ways to remediating it, but he said they concluded that the discharge option was the most appropriate strategy until they could develop a long term solution.

That solution could be five years away using money set aside in the council's long term plan.

The council wanted to give people confidence in their Shotover River plan, he said.

"We will be doing extensive additional ecological monitoring with the river environments to provide ourselves and the community with confidence that this action's not having adverse effects."

It would not deter him from using the river, which he said he was passionate about.

"Yes, I would happily swim there. I'd happily have my children swimming there."

Queenstown Lakes District Council property and infrastructure general manager Tony Avery said the effluent would be highly treated and the council was confident water quality would not be impacted.

"We're going to meet bathing water standards beyond the mixing zone which is a pretty standard measure.

"We're not talking about contaminating the water."

He did not feel the same about the current uncontrolled discharges from the disposal field, saying there were serious concerns about human health and they could not manage the risk.

Avery said using emergency powers would allow them to act immediately and then apply for retrospective consent instead of a year-long wait for a resource consent.

It would translate to about 12,000 cubic metres of treated wastewater being discharged directly into the river each day, but this would vary, he said.

Protesters outside the plant chanted "QLDC, we don't need your secrecy."

Quail Rise resident Lindsay said the council should be ashamed of lack of transparency as he only found out about the plan when the whisteblower councillor spoke out.

The plant has failed multiple times in recent years, sending waste into the river, he said.

He wanted to see councillors swim in the river if they believed the dumping of effluent would not impact river quality.

Another local, Yvonne Assié said it was putting a much-loved river at risk.

"They swim, they kayak, they paddleboard, they fish. There's so much going on in the Shotover River and it's a taonga," she said.

David George drove over from Cromwell to join the protest.

"I'm mostly angry about our clean, green image in New Zealand and the fact that this is taking place and this a premier tourist site in New Zealand ... and it's just wrecked," he said.

A decision on the plan is expected within days.

In January, the Otago Regional Council sought an enforcement order from the Environment Court to address repeated breaches at the treatment plant.

Chief executive Richard Saunders said the council had been notified that the district council was considering using emergency works provisions.

"This is a decision for them to make as the operators of the treatment plant," he said.

Under the Act, the district council would need formally notify within seven days of discharging and lodge a resource consent application within 20 working days.

Saunders said the process with the Environment Court was ongoing and the regional council continued to monitor the discharge from the plant.

"Testing to date shows that discharges from the plant remain compliant with the parameters set in the resource consent."

Central Otago sits downstream of the Shotover River.

Mayor Tamah Alley said her council wanted assurances including regular monitoring and for those results to be released to them to ensure there was no impact on the district's drinking water supplies.

"This would be critical to giving everyone comfort that the treated wastewater posed no risk," she said.

"Our communities' expectations and aspirations for our environment are increasing.

"They want to hear directly from councils how we are meeting our obligations not just to those we serve, but those downstream from decision making."