By WAYNE THOMPSON
Hibiscus Coast residents are split over a sewerage plan that would mean more effluent near one of Auckland's environmental showcases, Tiritiri Matangi Island.
The successful island bird sanctuary and a proposed marine reserve are only 3km across Tiri Channel from a mainland treatment plant outfall.
Plans for a seven-fold
increase in the discharge from the plant at Army Bay, Whangaparaoa, have prompted a protest from a group calling itself the Guardians of the Coast.
A spokesman for the group, Allan Parker, said that so far 3500 people had signed a petition against a plan adopted in July by the Rodney District Council.
The $47 million plan is to combine the Whangaparaoa and Orewa sewage systems and pump the sewage 20km along the peninsula to an upgraded Army Bay plant.
Mr Parker said people were concerned that Hibiscus Coast beaches would be degraded and raw sewage would end up on beaches during storms.
Tourism would be harmed by an expanded treatment plant next to the Shakespear Regional Park and new mainland bird sanctuary.
Mr Parker said the group would appeal to the Environment Court if the council won approval for an expanded outfall.
But the guardians group is accused of scaremongering by others.
Red Beach resident Frank Spencer said he was circulating a petition in support of the council's 50-year plan.
The council had done its homework in reviewing a previous council's decision, and he did not want the scheme delayed for another five years while residents argued.
A former councillor, Ken Canton, said the plan posed a far lower risk to Whangaparaoa Bay beaches than the continued discharge of Orewa effluent from off Red Beach.
Further reading
nzherald.co.nz/environment
