Plans for protest against sewage

A surge of public opinion against an application to discharge millions of litres of sewage into the harbour has sparked plans for a protest march.
A number of community organisations, including Maori and marine groups, met yesterday to plan a protest march, tentatively scheduled for December 12.
Haydn Solomon, co-ordinator for the hapu group Whangarei Alliance, said interest at the meeting showed how much the issue meant to people.
"We need to look at all the avenues we can to get the message across, between Maori, Pakeha, commercial groups and Joe Public," Mr Solomon said.
It was heartening to see young people among the 30 or so people who turned out.
"There needs to be zero tolerance for discharge," Mr Solomon said.
The Alliance was also working on a submission to the regional council, claiming the application did not give enough information.
Meanwhile, the Northland Regional Council is expecting a flood of submissions against the Whangarei District Council's application for a five-year renewal of its consent, allowing up to 24,000cu m of untreated sewage a day into Whangarei Harbour during emergencies.
The district council also wants a new consent for a sewage outfall into the Waiarohia Stream, at Railway Rd, again for emergencies.
As at 4pm yesterday, the regional council had received 42 public submissions with only two supporting the district council's application.
In his submission, Maunu Rd resident John Morris said keeping rates down at the expense of the environment was not an option and would damage New Zealand's clean, green image.
Brian McInerney said there was no guarantee the district council would not re-apply for a similar consent after five years. Crying poor or blaming public apathy was not good enough and he urged the district council to borrow money, if need be, to fix its ageing sewage system.
Gail Paul said she had a bio-cycle disposal system in Parua Bay which the district council insisted she upgrade at a cost of $5000 because of possible run-off into the sea. Even if it did overflow, the amount would have been "absolutely minuscule" compared to what the council wanted to discharge.
Onerahi Community Association member Carolyn Bond said she would have preferred that the $300,000 allocated to her suburb's shopping centre pavement be put towards upgrading the sewerage system instead, "so we are not a s**tty seaside suburb with a nice tiled pavement area".
Jane Walker of Kensington said if Northland's coastline was spoilt by sewage it would be hard to attract businesses or tourists.
Regional council consents manager Dave Roke said the number of submissions was likely to reach 100 by the November 25 closing date. The council had also received some informal submissions and had advised submitters to fill out proper forms.