Discharging into Whakarewarewa Forest is no longer viable as a sustainable option for several reasons, including the end of the current resource consent, so a new location possibly outside the forest needs to be found.
It is also resulting in ground over-saturation that's detrimental to trees, making it an unreliable filtering system and adding to pollutants entering the Puarenga Bay. A programme of work in in progress to identify an alternative discharge site.
An advisory group has been formed so council can work directly with iwi, hapu, mana whenua and other important community stakeholders to explore discharge options from the Wastewater Treatment Plant.
The purpose of the advisory group is to help the council achieve a satisfactory and sustainable solution to the long-term discharge of the city’s recovered water.
Although the current plant treats water to an extremely high standard, the upgraded plant will significantly further improve the quality of the treated water.
This will also include a higher level of nitrogen and phosphorus removal and full disinfection of bacteria such as E. Coli.
