A Tai Tokerau community leader who helped spearhead a successful campaign against sewage spills into Whangārei Harbour fears a proposal to truck wastewater from a fast-tracked Auckland housing development could create new risks for the harbour.
By Susan Botting for Local Democracy Reporting
The 1217-home Delmore development on farmland near Auckland's Ōrewa gained draft fast-track expert panel approval on July 14.
It is one of the largest greenfield housing developments proposed in New Zealand in recent years and is expected to generate about $1.23 billion in net economic benefits for Auckland by 2050, according to an economic report filed with the fast-track application.
Delmore would initially rely on privately provided water and wastewater services because Auckland's Watercare said it cannot connect the area to public infrastructure until at least 2050.
Based on figures from Whangārei District Council (WDC)'s initial discussions with the developer, about 1600 tanker loads of treated wastewater could be trucked to the Kioreroa Rd treatment plant, carrying about 504,000 litres a day north over summer.
That would amount to about 486,000km for tanker journeys between Ōrewa and Whangārei, including traversing the Brynderwyn Hills, and more than $2 million in WDC council discharge fees.
Auckland Council and Watercare opposed the development, saying in their submissions to the fast-track panel it was out of sequence with council growth plans and lacked drinking water and wastewater infrastructure.
Watercare has been approached for comment.
Wastewater would initially be treated on-site at Delmore before being trucked off-site.
Delmore could be home to about 3500 people based on a typical Auckland household size, more than twice the population of Northland's Waipū.
The residential project is being undertaken by Auckland-based land development company Vineway Ltd and overseen by residential property developer Myland Partners.
Northland Green MP Hūhana Lyndon said she was concerned about the precedent of trucking wastewater from a private Auckland development to Northland.
"It's really worrying. Do we want Tai Tokerau to become the dumping ground for Auckland's wastewater and septic?" Lyndon said.
"What comes next?"
Lyndon said councils, communities, hapū and iwi were being sidelined by the fast-track process.
"The fast-track panel has made its draft decision about a private development project in Auckland. But it's the Whangārei community that is affected by this waste. Where do we get our voices heard in the process?"
Save Our Harbour campaign leader Tim Howard said he was worried about the additional pressure Delmore's effluent would place on Whangārei's wastewater system as the city continued to grow.
He said it was irresponsible for the expert panel to grant draft approval, as "the infrastructure needed to cope with the development should have been sorted before it was given the draft green light".
Howard said trucking wastewater was a temporary fix to a problem requiring a permanent solution.
A fast-track spokesperson said the expert panel had yet to make its final decision, due on August 10 and containing a full evaluation of effects, benefits and conditions.
Howard also criticised WDC for indicating during preliminary discussions with the developer that the Kioreroa Rd plant had capacity to accept the wastewater without first consulting local hapū.
"The kaitiakitanga tangata whenua are responsible for in their local areas cannot simply be transferred somewhere else," Northland Urban Rural Mission community development worker Howard said.
He was equally concerned the council had not sought the views of ratepayers and the wider community.
Howard's concerns stem from years campaigning against sewage overflows into Whangārei Harbour when heavy rain overwhelmed the city's wastewater network.
The Save Our Harbour campaign culminated in a 2008 march through central Whangārei when hundreds of residents demanded action over recurring sewage spills. By 2012, WDC had spent $58 million addressing sewage overflows, committed a further $4 million to treatment plant upgrades and budgeted another $32 million for future spill-reduction work following years of community pressure.
Whangārei Mayor Ken Couper said the council had an initial discussion in November with a consultant working on behalf of Myland Partners.
Couper said the council had confirmed the Kioreroa Rd treatment plant had capacity to take the wastewater.
Whangārei's wastewater infrastructure had constraints in some areas, but these were in the supporting pipe network rather than at the treatment plant itself.
"The Whangārei wastewater treatment plant currently treats only a small portion of what is allowed under its consent," Couper said.
"Our understanding is that initial volumes would be approximately 504 cubic metres a day and that this could increase in later stages of the project.
"Timeframes have not been discussed."
Couper said no formal agreement had been presented to the council.
"Any request to use Whangārei's wastewater infrastructure would need to be carefully evaluated to ensure it does not negatively impact services, infrastructure capacity, environmental outcomes or residents.
"A formal agreement would need to be in place. Any wastewater accepted for treatment would also be subject to the appropriate charges, so the costs would not fall on Whangārei ratepayers.
"Consideration would also need to be given to any transport and traffic effects associated with moving wastewater by truck."
Responding to criticism about hapū involvement, Couper said any formal request from the developer to use Whangārei's wastewater infrastructure would also require appropriate engagement.
Meanwhile, Andrew Allsopp-Smith, a property developer with Myland Partners, which oversees the Delmore project being undertaken by Vineway, said the expert panel's draft decision was pleasing.
Allsopp-Smith said Whangārei had been considered as a destination for Delmore's treated wastewater because Watercare had refused to accept it at Auckland facilities.
The developer remained committed to working with the water services company to "see if an agreement can be reached around connections to the public network".
"We will continue to work constructively with Watercare about this."
He said the development's treated wastewater could be discharged on-site during its initial years.
Off-site trucking would only be required if Delmore could not connect to Auckland's public wastewater network at each stage of development and wastewater therefore had to be treated on-site.
And if trucking was required, it would only be needed for three months over summer, once development reached a certain level.
Allsopp-Smith said the development's first stage would generate a maximum of 197 cubic metres (197,000 litres) of treated wastewater a day needing to be transported off-site over three months in summer.
That was significantly less than the volume initially discussed with WDC, he said.
Calculations based on Allsopp-Smith's figure show about seven truckloads a day, or roughly 630 truckloads over the three-month period heading to Whangārei.
The WDC wastewater discharge fee would be about $794,000.
Allsopp-Smith said when the development's first stage of 475 homes was fully occupied, there would be an average of five truckloads during the three summer months.
Traffic assessments had not raised concerns, he said.
Whangārei was one of several possible destinations for treated wastewater and that Auckland-based facilities had also confirmed they could accept it if required, he said.
"If transporting treated wastewater ends up being required, we will look at the different options available and decide which to use depending on what is most suitable at the time."
He said there was already precedent adjacent to Delmore for Watercare to connect greenfield landholdings to Auckland's public network where consented or imminent developments existed on land zoned for future urban intensification.
LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.
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