Whangarei Heads residents are raising a stink over a controversial application to discharge raw sewage into Whangarei Harbour in emergencies.
The Whangarei District Council (WDC) today moved to allay the residents' fears, saying they were unfounded and sewage would be pumped into the harbour only under exceptional circumstances about once every
15 to 20 years.
The WDC has applied to the Northland Regional Council for resource consent for "the infrequent emergency discharges" of untreated sewage from 15 sewage pumping stations from a multimillion-dollar sewerage scheme under construction at Whangarei Heads.
If granted, the consent could see up to six hours worth of raw sewage from the 15 pumping stations discharged on to land in the event of an emergency.
The untreated sewage, "while immediately discharging on to land, is likely to flow to the closest surface water being either a stream/drain or the coastal marine area" (Whangarei Harbour), the application says.
Each pump has a capacity to store six hours worth of sewage, compared to a standard New Zealand capacity of four hours.
"As there is always some risk of an emergency overflow occurring from any of the pumping stations, consents are required for such a discharge event occurring," the application says.
But Heads resident Bill Richardson said while locals wanted the sewerage scheme to go ahead, they were concerned at the possibility of any raw sewage going into the harbour.
Heads residents are concerned at just what the council will deem an emergency, fearing it could lead to regular sewage discharges.
But the WDC said today sewage for the pump stations would only be discharged as a last resort in the unlikely event of the simultaneous failure of the power supply and stand-by generators and the capacity loading of the special underground storage tanks.
"The council understands the concerns raised, but considers some people are jumping to the wrong conclusions and magnifying fears," WDC spokesman Joe Askew said.
"Given the safeguards, a crisis situation requiring the discharge of sewage would be extremely rare. This fall-back action is practised by local authorities nationwide," Mr Askew said.
However, Mr Richardson said the pumping stations were within one to five metres of the harbour and believed any spills could be better contained if the pumps were further inland.
- NORTHERN ADVOCATE
