Sewerage work sets off lakes' big cleanup

The Government has committed $17 million to the lakes' cleanup, but the district council wants $100 million. Picture / Alan Gibson

The first of eight sewerage schemes aimed at improving water quality in the Rotorua lakes will be launched next week, amid heightened calls for more Government funding to clean up the polluted waters.

The Mourea/Okawa Bay scheme and accompanying eastern sewer trunk main are part of a $95 million project to replace septic tanks in lakeside communities with reticulated sewerage linked to Rotorua's wastewater treatment plant.

Mayor Kevin Winters, who chairs the Rotorua Lakes Strategy Joint Committee, said the $2.9 million sewerage scheme and $5.2 million trunk main was a historic step in the cleanup, but completion of the project was "absolutely dependent" on Government funding.

"The problem of the lakes' declining water quality is a national one and way beyond the pockets of the Rotorua community alone," he said.

"The Government must come to the party and share the cost of solutions."

The lakes have been polluted over decades. The Government has committed $17 million, but Rotorua District Council wants $100 million.

Last week, during a select committee hearing on a bill to return the lakes to local Maori, calls were also made for a bigger Government contribution to the cleanup.

Critics of the Te Arawa Lakes Settlement Bill, which is intended to end iwi claims to the lakes, said it did not address the issue of pollution.

"It's the responsibility of the Crown to restore them before they hand them [the lakes] back," said Te Arawa Federation of Maori Authorities spokesman Pihopa Kingi.

The bill vests ownership of 13 of 14 lakebeds in a Te Arawa trust. The Crown retains ownership of the water column and airspace above the lakes.

The bill also gives the Te Arawa Lakes Trust financial redress of $2.7 million - which Mr Kingi and others said would do little to help with the cleanup.

Communities use septic tanks which, particularly as they get older, run the risk of leaching polluting nutrients which flow into the lakes.

Funding for the Mourea/Okawa Bay scheme has come from subsidies from Environment Bay of Plenty (the regional council), the Ministry of Health and a general rates levy of $1500 a property imposed by the Rotorua District Council.

Property owners in Mourea and Okawa Bay have contributed the rest of the cost and about 30 per cent have already been granted resource consent for their connections.

New sewerage schemes are also planned for Brunswick/Rotokawa, Okareka, Okere Falls/Otaramarae/Whangamarino, Gisborne Pt, Hamurana, Tarawera and Rotoma.

The official opening of the Mourea/Okawa Bay scheme and eastern sewer trunk main will be at the Ngareta Rd pump station on Monday.


POLLUTION THE PROBLEM

* Rotorua's lakes have been polluted over decades by nutrients entering the water and creating toxic algal blooms.

THE COST

* The latest estimates of the cleanup is $200 million over 20 years.