The Whakatāne District Council has agreed to pursue an integrated solution to wastewater treatment for the Matatā, Edgecumbe and Whakatāne communities and seek additional funding to help meet the estimated construction cost of close to $24 million.

A report on wastewater treatment options for Matatā, and a wider strategy for District wastewater schemes, was received at an Extraordinary Council Meeting on 8 October. The integrated option would see Matatā’s wastewater reticulated and pumped to Edgecumbe for treatment; the existing Edgecumbe treatment system upgraded; and the treated effluent from both communities pumped to the Whakatāne wastewater treatment ponds outlet, where UV light treatment would be introduced to further upgrade the combined effluent streams before discharge via the existing ocean outfall.

Mayor Tony Bonne says Councillors strongly favoured the integrated solution proposed because it provided a wastewater solution for Matatā without the need to construct and maintain a new wastewater treatment plant and disposal system, while also providing substantial advances towards the treatment standards that will be required to be able to renew the resource consents applying to the Edgecumbe and Whakatāne wastewater schemes. 

“The costs involved are considerable, but to be frank, the costs of doing nothing are likely to be much higher and in Matatā’s case, could impose a totally unaffordable burden on individual property owners,” he says. “This proposal not only eliminates the issues Matatā faces with its septic tank systems, but also deals with the effluent disposal issues at Edgecumbe, where the discharge of treated effluent into the Tarawera River, via the Omeheu Canal, is inconsistent with the management plan for the river.

“The combined discharge of the integrated system would be within the volume allowed under the Whakatāne scheme’s ocean outfall resource consent, so a variation to, or replacement of the existing consent should be achievable, particularly after the quality of the treated wastewater has been enhanced by UV treatment,” he adds.

Affordability will be a key issue and Councillors have flagged the need to keep rate increases, debt and debt repayment levels below the limits set out in the Council’s 2015-25 Long Term Plan. To achieve that, Infrastructure General Manager Tomasz Krawczyk says an increased level of external funding would be required. 

“Our next steps are to finalise a detailed project plan and develop a business case that we can take to our funding partners so that we can get at least a preliminary indication of the level of support that may be available,” Mr Krawczyk says. “The huge volume of work required to get to this point has limited our ability to consult with the community, but we are committed to keeping stakeholders informed and will now look to brief iwi, community board and interest group representatives and utilise their feedback to guide the project development.”