The Far North District Council (FNDC) applied to the Northland Regional Council (NRC) for the consents needed for the plant in 2007 and a two-member NRC Hearing Committee heard the application in the Hokianga late last year.
In its decision, released recently, the Committee grants the consents (largely a replacement of existing consents) subject to a raft of conditions.
The existing plant – which discharges treated wastewater directly to Hokianga Harbour via an ocean outfall - was established in the early 1980s after environmental and health problems and to allow future development.
The Committee, chaired by Lorraine Hill, noted the discharge of treated wastewater to the harbour was culturally unacceptable.
However, the local community needed the scheme to continue to provide both for its health and safety - and its social, economic and cultural wellbeing. To decline the applications would have a major adverse effect on the local community.
The FNDC had also agreed to consult with tangata whenua and the community in an investigation on whether land disposal of treated wastewater was a feasible future alternative. Consent conditions imposed by the Committee include the formation of a community liaison group which must meet quarterly while those investigations are carried out.
Monitoring of the harbour since 1997 indicated the discharge “has had no more than minor adverse effects after reasonable mixing” and evidence presented at the hearing showed the system had generally worked well to date.
Subject to the conditions it was imposing, the Committee said adverse effects of the applications on the coastal waters would be no more than minor.
To allow for future growth in the area, the new consents permit an increase in the maximum daily discharge from 434 cubic metres to 685 cu m, however, consent conditions mean that even with that increase, the level of treatment will remain similar.
“The conditions of consent include trigger levels for the quality of the treated wastewater that are based on the current quality, increased monitoring of the treated wastewater quality and the ability for the Northland Regional Council to review the conditions of consent should the treated wastewater quality not be maintained to at least its present quality.”
The 10 year period the consents had been granted for – which expires 31 August 2019 - was intended to “accommodate the investigations for land disposal being undertaken and a timeframe for consent processing”.
The Resource Management Act provides for a 15 day appeal period to the Environment Court if the parties to the application do not accept the Regional Council’s decision.
Opononi/Omapere wastewater consents decision