LAKE Ferry people who have been living with a smelly problem for years have been celebrating the prospect of sweeter days ahead.
Resource consent has just been granted for the building of an $850,000 sewage treatment system for the townships that will spell the end of effluent contaminated ground and surface water.
The new system has been on the drawing board for years after escaping sewage from overloaded and outdated systems was branded a health hazard, and will cater for the existing 54 homes at Lake Ferry, the hotel and camping ground and future possible expansion.
Funding is coming from ministry of health subsidies and from a district-wide rating.
Resource consent comes after a special hearing in Martinborough earlier this month.
Commissioners Te Akapikirangi Arthur and Helen Tobin and Wellington regional councillor Rick Long approved the scheme, subject to some conditions.
The treatment and disposal method involves upgraded site tanks and pumping to a treatment plant built on higher ground behind the settlement.
Sewage will then be subjected to biological treatment and the effluent disposed off into the soil by an underground drip line.
When the soil becomes saturated the effluent will be directed to an artificial wetland before finally being discharged into Lake Onoke.
Life to smell sweeter at Lake Ferry
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