Source: Radio New Zealand
Hapū kaikōrero Dallas King says Rāwene’s new wastewater system shows what can be achieved when councils, iwi and communities work together. RNZ / Peter de Graaf
A Far North community is celebrating a milestone in its decades-long battle to keep human waste out of one of the nation’s most culturally significant harbours.
A hapū spokesperson said the upgrade of Rāwene’s wastewater plant was also a textbook example of how all ratepayers can benefit when councils work with iwi – because the system’s final cost was less than one-tenth of the initial price quoted by industry experts.
Ngāti Kaharau and Ngāti Hau ki Hokianga kaikōrero Dallas King said the commissioning of the new sewage treatment system at dawn on Saturday was a major step forward.
“It’s the realisation of several generations of impetus from a community to correct a wrong that has been done… but there’s also excitement in terms of what this new technology could provide to not only our community, but other communities similar to ours.”
The new electrocoagulation plant used an electrical current between conducting plates to purify wastewater.
It replaced Rāwene’s failing and flood-prone oxidation ponds, which regularly overflowed into Hokianga Harbour, just upstream from Rāwene township.
King said the new plant was only the first step in ending the discharge of human waste into the harbour.
Rāwene’s new wastewater treatment system, in the blue containers, was due to be turned on Saturday morning. RNZ / Peter de Graaf
For now, treated water from the electrocoagulation plant was discharged into a wetland that drained into the harbour, but in future it would be discharged onto a nearby block of land bought by the Far North District Council.
That would allow removal of the oxidation ponds and restoration of the wetland, which were located on a wāhi tapu known as Te Raupo.
It was the first time electrocoagulation had been used on a municipal scale in New Zealand, King said.
It was affordable and well-tested overseas, but a risk-averse industry had been reluctant to use it here.
In the past, electrocoagulation’s higher operational cost, due to its use of electricity, had been seen as a disadvantage but that had been addressed by solar power.
Solar panels were about to be installed to help power the Rāwene plant, she said.
The project’s primary aim was to clean up the harbour, but it had also saved Far North ratepayers a large sum of money, King said.
The original cost quoted by industry for upgrading Rāwene’s wastewater system was $22.3 million, which later came down to around $8m.
King said the project’s final cost was $1.2m, including the solar panels.
Rāwene’s sewage ponds overflowed into the harbour in winter and were prone to toxic blooms in summer. RNZ / Peter de Graaf
Even that cost would not have to be carried by ratepayers because it had come out of central government’s Better Off Funding, part of the since-cancelled Three Waters reforms.
“What we’re celebrating first and foremost is knowing that human waste is not going into the water. But we’re also celebrating the fact we have managed to pull this project through in a dignified way by council, community and hapū working constructively together, to deliver a project that was originally priced at $22.3m for just over $1.2m,” she said.
“In the inflammatory local government world we’re inhabiting at the moment, it’s the kind of outcome that gives legs to the validity of working with hapū and with communities. We know our water better than anyone else.”
The Far North District Council is also trialing electrocoagulation at its Taipā treatment plant in Doubtless Bay, and looking at land-based disposal options for Kohukohu, Opononi-Ōmāpere, Taipā and Kaikohe.
The Hokianga Harbour has immense cultural significance to Māori – not least because it was the arrival and departure point of the great explorer Kupe – but it was also a centre of early European settlement, boasting the first shipyard, some of the earliest mission stations, and possibly the oldest pub, the Horeke Tavern.
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand