Fisheries Minister Shane Jones is critical of Christchurch City Council's proposal to pump partially treated sewage into the ocean. Photo / Mark Mitchell
Fisheries Minister Shane Jones has taken a swing at Christchurch City Council, warning it about a proposal to send partially treated sewage into the ocean.
On Monday, Mayor Phil Mauger floated the idea of pumping about a third of the city’s sewage into the ocean in an effort to lessen the stench from the city’s damaged treatment plant.
The sewage would be partially treated and have chlorine added before being pumped out via the existing outfall pipe into Pegasus Bay.
At the time, community leaders and the Canterbury Regional Council, which controls consents for the plant, said the announcement was a surprise.
It came days after the regional council issued an abatement notice to the city council over the plant’s “objectionable and offensive odour”, which has worsened over recent months and prompted thousands of complaints.
The mayor’s announcement raised Jones’ ire, who called the proposal “ridiculous” and warned the council he would not “sit back quietly and watch the good name of our fishing and aquaculture industry be soiled”.
“It’s absolutely ridiculous, we’re going to destroy our reputation as a clean export nation. This problem goes back many years and it’s grossly unfair that God-fearing businesses trying to make a living and generate export earnings should be deluged in tūtae [excrement].”
He noted sewage overflow into the Mahurangi River had destroyed oyster farmers’ livelihood and cost Auckland’s Watercare $2 million in compensation.
“Mahurangi has led to fairly significant compensation claims, and really, after the New Zealand taxpayer has spent a tremendous amount of money over the years helping Christchurch get back on its feet, we do not expect to see the civic leadership of Christchurch destroying local businesses underwritten by people mortgaging their houses and having a dream to create more wealth for the future, only to see it disappear under a Christchurch council wall of poo.”
The council should expect a high level of scrutiny from central government over the idea, he said.
“It is grossly unfair and, in my view, someone’s going to have to write a huge cheque out if these fisheries businesses are destroyed.”
He had spoken with Aquaculture New Zealand as well as Ministry for Primary Industries officials, and was seeking more information from the council.
Jones acknowledged it was a tricky situation, but urged more caution before proposals were aired.
“Why, in such a random indiscriminate way, are ideas being put out there into the ether? Quite frankly they’re floating on a sort of political scum that’s going to ruin a God-fearing bunch of businesses.”
There was a nationwide infrastructure deficit, as evidenced by Auckland’s sewage overflows and Wellington being “surrounded by fetid stinking sewage”, Jones said.
“We’ve got to get our priorities right in this country – the council needs to put its engineers and its thinking caps on and stop serving up this menu of effluent.”
Green Party local government spokesman Mike Davidson said it was important to acknowledge what residents in the city’s east had gone through since the 2021 fire, but no one wanted to see a new problem created.
“Two wrongs don’t make a right.”
The council needed to work with mana whenua and the regional council to get a proper solution, Davidson said.
He said it underscored concerns about new wastewater standards that would result in environmental thresholds being lowered in some areas.
Regional council chairman Deon Swiggs said the two councils had met to formally discuss the proposal on Wednesday.
The city council should have brought a detailed proposal to the regional council before going public, but “it is what it is”.
The regional council would assess the proposal’s environmental impact once it had more information, but there was a “considerable amount of work” to get to that point.
The country was facing an infrastructure crisis, Swiggs said.
“We’re starting to see this time and time again. In Auckland whenever it rains, in Wellington at the moment, and you’ve got what we’re having here in Christchurch.”
The city council had until March 16 to comply with the abatement notice, including providing details on how it would mitigate the stench.
Taumata Arowai spokeswoman Sara McFall said the authority had written to the city council regarding “recent and ongoing concerns with the Bromley treatment plant”, making an official request for information under the Water Services Act.
She said the authority wanted to understand the plant’s compliance and what the city council was doing to manage the situation, but this did not include the latest proposal.
New Zealand Food Safety deputy director general Vincent Arbuckle said the agency was also seeking more information from the city council and had been in touch with potentially affected businesses.
Aquaculture NZ chief executive Tee Hale Pennington said the organisation recognised the urgency for finding a solution, but actions taken on land must not create new problems in the ocean.
The situation in Mahurangi showed what could happen when water quality was compromised, she said.
“The ongoing closures and uncertainty there have been incredibly tough on farmers, their businesses and the wider community. We cannot afford to see that kind of situation repeated anywhere else in the country.”
The industry wanted assurances coastal water quality would be protected, and called on the council to involve aquaculture businesses in open and transparent discussions.
“We want to work with authorities to ensure any actions taken do not compromise water quality or the reputation of New Zealand’s aquaculture products.”
At Wednesday’s council meeting, head of three waters Gavin Hutchinson said there was no date yet to brief elected members on the proposal. He said staff had explored pipe measurements and met with contractors, but not purchased materials.
The project fell within budget at this stage, but if needed, staff would come back to the council to seek more funding, Hutchinson said.
Earlier, Canterbury Regional Council operations manager Brett Aldridge said it was not aware of the proposal and unclear what the city council meant by partially treated sewage.
No one from Christchurch City Council was available for an interview.
– RNZ