A draft Indicative Business Case is to be submitted to the Government and the Bay of Plenty Regional Council seeking additional funding for a solution to Matatā’s wastewater treatment needs.

The business case indicates the most effective way of addressing the health and environmental risks arising from the town's current septic tank wastewater treatment systems - and support the community’s social, environmental and cultural aspirations - is to invest in an integrated solution utilising existing District wastewater infrastructure and resource consents. This would see a reticulation system installed to service all Matatā properties; wastewater pumped to an upgraded Edgecumbe treatment system; and treated effluent from both communities pumped to the Whakatāne oxidation ponds, where UV disinfection treatment would be installed to further improve treated effluent quality, before disposal via the existing ocean outfall. The integrated wastewater solution provided would meet all three communities' long-term treatment needs, at a total cost of $32 million.

At its meeting last week, the Council resolved to formally engage with central Government and the Regional Council to finalise the indicative business case, and seek a partnership approach to funding.

Deputy Mayor Judy Turner described the business case as an extremely good piece of work. "This clearly confirms that there is a pressing need for sewerage reticulation in Matatā, if the community is to have a sustainable future," she said.

Mayor Tony Bonne said it was important to engage with the Government and ensure that the importance of supporting wastewater infrastructure for smaller, economically deprived communities was understood. "To safeguard Matatā residents' wellbeing and achieve Government and Regional Council fresh water management objectives, it's important that we move forward with a modern and effective wastewater treatment solution now."

As part of the business plan development, more than one-third of Matatā’s 280 properties were randomly checked by the Bay of Plenty Regional Council to assess whether the continued use of on-site wastewater disposal systems (septic tanks and soakage fields) represented a public health risk. That showed that more than 40 percent of properties required reticulation in the near future, with 3 percent of properties requiring urgent action to mitigate likely health risks. Environmental monitoring also showed that close to half of the ground and surface water sites sampled had unacceptable levels of microbial contamination, from human sources.

The Council hopes to formally present the indicative business case to Government Ministers in February next year, with a view to gaining additional funding towards the $21 million external contribution required to make the integrated solution an affordable community option.