Consents granted for BOI wastewater scheme

Resource consents have been granted for a proposed community wastewater scheme in the Waitangi Forest which could eventually treat waste from up to 50,000 Bay of Islands people.

The Far North District Council (FNDC) applied to the Northland Regional Council in late 2006 (subs: crrct 2006) for 11 consents needed for the multimillion dollar scheme, the final form of which has yet to be determined. District Council staff also sought permission from the FNDC to increase the number of communities whose wastewater could be treated at the Waitangi Forest site.

An independent three-member local authority Joint Hearing Committee – chaired by Tauranga-based Commissioner Alan Bickers – heard the applications in Paihia in late September-early October last year and on 21 January this year.

The Committee recently issued its decision, granting consent for the proposed the Bay of Islands Community Wastewater Scheme until November 2023, subject to an extensive range of conditions.

As proposed, the scheme will collect wastewater from Kerikeri, Waipapa, Paihia, Waitangi, Opua and Haruru Falls areas, treating it at the site of the existing Paihia wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) in the Waitangi Forest.

Within the next few years, the FNDC plans to upgrade the existing plant to cope with expected increased waste - or decommission it and install a new plant there. At this stage the District Council has yet to decide which option to pursue and/or the exact form of wastewater treatment to be used. Instead, it has set about securing any resource consents it will need and will eventually seek proposals on a ‘design-build’ basis to meet consent conditions.

The District Council’s current consents for the existing Paihia WWTP expire in April 2014 and its consents for the existing Kerikeri WWTP (which will be decommissioned as part of the new Bay of Islands scheme) in March 2015.

The FNDC’s application was publicly notified in mid-2007, attracting 57 submissions. Of those, 39 were opposed, 17 were in support (including conditional support) and one was neutral.

Opponents’ concerns included the size of the scheme, including the proposed maximum daily discharge of 10,200 cubic metres of treated waste, possible environmental effects and that there had not been sufficient consideration of alternatives.

However, after considering the submissions and evidence it had heard, the Committee was satisfied any possible adverse environmental effects could be addressed through the raft of consent conditions it was imposing.

“In fact, the proposal will result in improvements to the environment, particularly the Waitangi Wetlands complex,” the Committee said. (The wetlands will be the receiving environment for the treated wastewater)

Meanwhile, the Hearing Committee has also recommended the FNDC enact a Trade Waste Bylaw as soon as possible to control the amount and strength of industrial wastewater that could be discharged to the proposed plant.

It also noted that if resource consents for the new plant were not in use by the time the Paihia WWTP’s existing consents expired in 2014, the Paihia plant would need new consents.

The Committee’s decision is open to appeal to the Environment Court for 15 working days.