Proposed 'poo tax' for island dumping

Maori groups oppose the dumping of sewage on Puketutu Island. Photo / Dean Purcell

Auckland's wastewater company is fighting a suggestion it should have to pay a "poo tax" to local iwi for sewage dumped on Puketutu Island.

The Auckland Regional Council and the Manukau City Council are this week considering plans by Watercare Services to drop 4.4 million cubic metres of Auckland's treated sewage on the island over the next 35 years.

The Manukau Harbour island is marked as a wahi tapu (area sacred to Maori) in the Manukau district plan, and many Maori groups oppose putting sewage there.

In a report to the Manukau City Council, planning consultant Barry Kaye said Watercare should be allowed to go ahead, but should pay $2 to a trust set up by local iwi for every cubic metre dumped.

Watercare said the payment was unreasonable and would add $12 million to the ratepayer-funded service over the next 35 years.

Carmen Kirkwood, who wrote a submission against the plan on behalf of several Maori groups, said the money would not make any difference.

It would amount to paying Maori to say yes to putting waste on a wahi tapu that contained ancient burial grounds.

Watercare wants to use solid, treated byproduct from its Mangere wastewater treatment plant to re-soil a former quarry on the island.

It has agreed to turn parts of the privately owned island into a public park once the work is complete.

Former Waitangi Tribunal director Wira Gardiner gave evidence for Watercare that any remnants of tapu would have been removed by building a wastewater treatment plant on the island in 1958 and using nearby tidal flats as sewage ponds.

But Ms Kirkwood, who has led efforts to protect and restore the Manukau Harbour on behalf of Waikato-Tainui Maori, said the island was still sacred, although restrictions on using it were less strict than before.

"It is the only island of great significance in the Manukau Harbour and we need to look after it. They need to take their crap away from the water," she said.

"Have a look at the islands in the Hauraki Gulf and the mana we put on them by making sure no rats, no possums, are on those islands. Why would we look at an island in the Manukau Harbour and put shit in it?" Ms Kirkwood said.

If the levy goes ahead, the money will be used to help local iwi have a say in the future of the island and offset some of the project's negative effects.

The hearing on the project began last Monday, and is expected to last another two weeks.