Bureaucratic blunders land us all in the poo

Federated Farmers Wanganui provincial president Harry Matthews.

Whanganui District Council's proposed $50 levy on rural property owners to go towards the cost of the wastewater system has raised the hackles of those residing beyond the city limit.

In the recent submission hearings at the council, mayor Hamish McDouall, at one stage, asked if the charge "could be seen in light of a contribution towards a city disaster".

Unfortunately, the whole process of trying to fix the wastewater situation has been something of a disaster from the start and we're still some way from the finish line.

The current and previous councils have been given a hospital pass over the failed treatment plant on Airport Rd. Regardless of whether this proposed $50 went through or not, you would have to think that we are all going to be paying for this monumental stuff-up in one way or another for years to come.

In fact, the $50 charge was scrapped during annual plan deliberations this week. As others have pointed out, many rural folk have already forked out thousands of dollars to put in septic tanks to take care of their own waste.

Yet when the new plant finally comes into action over the next 12 months or so, it's possible those living beyond the 100km/h signs are going to be hit with in their wallets with the undoubted hike in fees local contractors are charged for the disposing of septic waste at the plant. Even though the local contractors are all probably very nice people, you know for sure they will be passing on any extra increases they receive for the privilege of using the plant for the disposal of waste.

The rates that are paid every year by property owners in the district should already be covering this equation.

At the end of the day it all comes down to the fact that this is another bureaucratic blunder where all ratepayers -- urban and rural -- are going to be left footing the bill.

By now we should have had no need to continue the rather unsavoury practice of pumping human waste two miles out to sea beyond South Beach. I'm sure the snapper and gurnard would agree. Yet it's funny how some people manage to overlook this gross breach -- but when someone catches a cow standing in a stream...

Harry Matthews is Federated Farmers Wanganui president.