Council seeks OK for wastewater project

A proposed wastewater treatment plant for Queenstown looks set to head to the Environment Court next year after mediation between the Queenstown Lakes District Council and an appellant stalled.

Project Shotover is the planned upgrade to the wastewater treatment plant at the Shotover Delta that will service the Queenstown, Arrowtown, Lake Hayes and Arthurs Point communities.

The upgrade is required because of the expiry of the current consent and stricter discharge criteria required by the Otago Regional Council.

Consent for the project was granted in March but is under appeal.

At a council meeting yesterday strategic project manager Martin O'Malley said it was likely the matter would head to the Environment Court.

It had been expected the plant would be commissioned in 2012 but the appeal process meant the project may take longer to build.

This could cause problems for the existing system because there was a potential it could become less effective in the removal of pathogens and some nutrients past 2012, Mr O'Malley said.

Queenstown Mayor Clive Geddes said the biggest risk was the system becoming non-compliant and the council should seek urgency from the court to speed up the process.

Speaking after the meeting, Mr O'Malley said mediation was continuing with the appellant but it was unlikely it would be solved in this manner.

"We're still part of mediation but, unfortunately, what we're discovering is that we're not making any progress in mediation so an alternative is to go back to the Environment Court," Mr O'Malley said.

A hearing date in late May or June was likely, he said.

If consent was granted at that hearing, the project could be completed by late 2012 but there was a possibility it could run into 2013 or 2014, he said.

The council would then have to look at interim measures, such as an add-on treatment system, but these could cost more than $1 million, and that was why heading back to the Environment Court to get consent was important, Mr O'Malley said.

- © Fairfax NZ News

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