Source: Radio New Zealand
Diggers at the burnt-out Bromley wastewater plant. Supplied Image – Christchurch City Council
A controversial plan to pump millions of litres of partially-treated sewage into the Christchurch coastline is leaving community leaders feeling uneasy and sceptical.
Earlier this month, Mayor Phil Mauger floated the idea of pumping around a third of the city’s sewage into the ocean in an effort to lessen the stench from the fire-damaged wastewater plant at Bromley.
The sewage would be partially treated and have chlorine added before being pumped out via the existing outfall pipe into Pegasus Bay.
The announcement came days after the Canterbury Regional Council issued an abatement notice to the city council over the plant’s “objectionable and offensive odour”, which had worsened over recent months resulting in almost 6000 complaints since late January.
The proposal had been met with fierce criticism in some quarters, with Fisheries Minister Shane Jones labelling the idea “ridiculous”.
Fisheries Minister Shane Jones. RNZ / Mark Papalii
The city council had until this week to comply with the abatement notice, including providing details on how it would mitigate the stench.
The Waitai Coastal-Burwood-Linwood community board was briefed on the plan on Monday.
Wastewater treatment plant operations manager Adam Twose told members the “multi-million dollar” plan was under consideration because recently-introduced wastewater regulations were more relaxed.
“Under the new wastewater standards, there’s the option to go a lot looser. So you’re allowed to discharge more contaminants to the environment,” he said.
The proposed sewage bypass would not meet the plant’s existing resource consent conditions, Twose said.
There also remained several unresolved matters, including total cost, timeframes and environmental impacts.
At the meeting, board chair Paul McMahon admitted he felt uneasy about the proposal.
“Given the potential environmental impact and lots of other unknowns. But I do think that it needs to be investigated fully,” he said.
The briefing also raised further questions over the plant’s overall resilience which had been operating at maximum capacity, meaning essential site maintenance had been put off.
Twose said if pressure on the plant was not eased, odours could become more frequent and more severe.
“[Our plan] was to see how long we could keep everything going until the new activator sludge was going in. But it’s become obvious that we need to act,” he said.
Councillor Yani Johanson also questioned whether the plan was viable.
“Is there a risk that we spend all this time and effort looking at this option and we don’t get progress on it to fix the problem ahead of when the new solution’s in place.
“If we spend a whole bunch of money doing something that’s not going to be ready in time, what have we achieved.”
Councillor Yani Johanson. RNZ / Nate McKinnon
The city council was planning to replace the plant’s fire-damaged trickling filters with an activated sludge reactor.
The project was due to completed in late 2028.
The regional council’s director of operations Brett Aldridge said it had received the city council’s plan.
“Our wastewater specialist will work alongside [Canterbury Regional Council] staff to assess the information provided with urgency to ensure it meets the expectations set out in the abatement notice. Depending on the complexity of the material submitted, this may take some time to complete.
“If the plan submitted today is not satisfactory, Christchurch City Council may face additional enforcement action from the regional council.”
Greens’ local government spokesperson Mike Davidson said the city council could be locked into a long-term committment for what was essentially a short-term fix.
“I think the council are genuine in trying to make it temporary, but it will give them a 35-year consent.
“We’ve seen things that were supposed to be temporary last very long, you just have to look at how long this debacle has taken to get to this point.”
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
