Where does my poo go when I flush?

Where does my poo go when I flush?

Where does my poo go when I flush?

Right now – it goes into the Chatterton River (after it’s been treated)

We want to change this but it is going to come at a cost to ratepayers

What has been the effect of the current effluent discharge on the Chatterton River?

Water quality in the Chatterton River has been monitored over the past 3 years as part of the current consent requirements. This monitoring indicates that the treatment plant wastewater discharge increases the nutrient levels in the Chatterton. The wastewater discharge has also been seen to impact on the ecosystems in the Chatterton River - a noticeable increase in algae growth downstream of the discharge, along with a decrease in the number and range of macroinvertebrates present in this stretch of the waterway.

The presence and diversity of macroinverte-brates are used as an indicator of the health of a river. This impact has not been seen to extend into the Percival River, which the Chat-terton flows into shortly downstream of the treatment plant. The water quality and macroin-vertebrate community here is similar to that found above the wastewater discharge.

How can I find out more about my options?Visit our website www.hurunui.govt.nz - water and sewerage services or come along to a public meeting (see below).

How do I have my say?• You can go to our website

www.hurunui.govt.nz current consultations

• You can send us an email to submissions@hurunui.govt.nz

• You can write to us and then pop your submission in at the Hanmer Springs Library Service Centre, or post it to us: Hurunui District Council, HS Treatment Plant Submission, PO Box 13, Amberley 7441

• You can phone us toll free on 315-8400 and speak to our Utilities Team Leader, Brett Beer

• You can come along to a public forum where you can find out more and also share your feedback:

Monday18 September1pmHanmer Springs Gallery - in the Hanmer Springs Library

Where does my poo go?

Poo: It's not usually something you spend much time thinking about. But every time you flush the toilet or wash something down a shower or kitchen drain, you create sewage, also known as wastewater. Wastewater travels through the pipes in your house to sewer lines underneath the streets and into the Hanmer Springs Wastewater Treatment Plant. Once it has been through a treatment process, we discharge the wastewater effluent into the nearby Chatterton River.

The current level of treatment is no longer sufficient under the new regulations for river water quality that have been introduced for the Canterbury Region. The level of nutrients, particualrly phosphorous, are too high and causing excessive algae growth; our new con-sent need to be submitted by September 2014.

So what are we going to do with it now?

We have been working on an alternative land-disposal solution for the last three years. Initial community feedback indicated a desire among local residents to stop the discharge of wastewater effluent to the Chatterton River, so as not to damage the pure alpine image which is important to Hanmer Springs’ tourism trade.

This disposal to land solution has been included in our long term planning, however, the costs associated with this option have increased significantly from those previously estimated. Given the inevitable increase in rates associated with each of the options available, we need your informed input about how you would like to see wastewater disposed of in Hanmer Springs in the future. We invite you to consider the various options presented here with respect to environmental outcomes and weigh this up together with affordability to help determine the best way forward.

What are the options?We have engaged an independent consultant to review the options available and provide us with updated cost estimates. The options investigated included:• landdisposaloftheeffluentallyearround• anupgradetothecurrenttreatmentplanttominimisetheimpactofthedischargeontheChattertonRiver• ahybridoptioninvolvingdisposalofeffluenttolandfor6to9monthsoftheyear,asconditionsallow,and

continueddisposaltotheChattertonRiverforthewintermonths.

Financial Impacts Impact of upgrade on Chatterton River

Difficulty to get a resource consent

Future-proof?

Option 1 Land Disposal All Year Round

This involves the purchase of approximately 60 to 70 ha of land for use as a disposal site. Treated effluent from the ex-isting treatment plant would be pumped to the disposal site and irrigated onto the land for 12 months of the year.

Capital Cost $3.8 Million

Increase in Annual Operating Costs $20,000 per annum

Average annual increase in Rates from $260.00 (cur-rent) to $650.00

Water quality below the current discharge point on the Chatterton River would improve to a similar quality as that above the current discharge location.

This should be the easiest of the 3 options to consent. It is likely that it would be a notified consent, how-ever it generally delivers the environmental, recreational and cultural improvements desired by the community.

This option will likely secure long term con-sent (30+ years), it is also unlikely that signifi-cant further upgrades to the Hanmer treatment plant would be required to meet future popula-tion growth.

Option 2Improved Treatment and All-Year Round Discharge to the Chatterton River

This involves upgrading the current treatment plant to remove much of the Phospho-rus contained in the wastewa-ter. The wastewater would also be disinfected using UV- light before being discharged into the Chatterton River.

Capital Cost$1.6 MillionIncrease in Annual Operating Costs $26,000 per annumAverage annual increase in Rates from $260.00 (cur-rent) to $440.00

Water quality below the current discharge point on the Chatterton River, particularly with respect to nutrient concentrations and algae growth, would generally improve to a similar quality as that above the current discharge location.

This would be a challenging and involved consent process. It would meet the environ-mental outcomes sought by the community, however the continued discharge of human waste would be abhorrent to local Iwi values. It would likely be a fully notified consent process with a number of affected parties submitting in opposition.

This option would only be likely to secure me-dium term consent (10 to 15 years). Renewal of the consent would be subject to any potential future changes in fresh-water regulations. This could entail another fu-ture treatment upgrade to reduce Nitrogen levels in the discharge at a cost of approximately $2 million.

Option 3Hybrid Option

This involves the purchase of approximately 25 ha of land to use as a disposal site for 6 to 9 months of the year. Treated wastewater would be irrigated at this location when condi-tions permit. During the wet-ter winter months, when the land is too wet for irrigation, the effluent will continue to be discharged into the Chatter-ton River. This option would not include further upgrade to the treatment plant.

Capital Cost$2 MillionIncrease in Annual Operating Costs $15,000 per annum

Average annual increase in Rates from $260.00 (cur-rent) to $470.00

Water quality below the current discharge on the Chatterton River would improve considerably but there would still be a measurable degrada-tion in water quality when compared to the upstream water quality.

This would be an extremely challenging and involved consent process. It would not fully meet the environmen-tal outcomes sought by the community, and the seasonal discharge of human waste, albeit at a lower volume than previously but would still be abhorrent to local Iwi values. It would likely be a fully notified consent process with a number of affected parties submitting in opposition.

This option would only be likely to secure me-dium term consent (10 to 15 years). Renewal of the consent would be subject to any potential future changes in fresh-water regulations. This could entail another fu-ture treatment upgrade to reduce Nitrogen and/or Phosphorus levels in the discharge at a cost of approximately $2 million.