Renee Kiriona. Photo / Andrew Warner
Rotorua Lakes Council spent more than $100,000 in the space of three months on an Environment Court case it later withdrew from.
The case was in relation to the council's plan to discharge treated wastewater into Lake Rotorua, which was challenged by Te Arawa Lakes Trust in 2018.
The action was withdrawn at the end of August, with the council, Central North Island Iwi Holdings and Te Arawa Lakes Trust working "collaboratively" toward a solution, according to a council release at the time.
Now, an official information request has revealed $113,116 of ratepayer money was spent on costs associated with the Environment Court application.
Mayor Steve Chadwick said it would be "naive" to not expect costs from the consenting process, and the council said it would have incurred the costs whether it had gone to the Environment Court or not.
But Taonga not Toilet campaigner Renee Kiriona, of Ngāti Uenukukōpako, said the spending was a "waste of money".
"The entire litigation could have been avoided if they put their ears on earlier.
"But do they care? It's not their money."
Kiriona had launched a petition in relation to the proposed discharge, calling for Te Arawa Lakes Trust to "do everything it can" to prevent it and push for a law to make Lake Rotorua a legal person to protect it. The petition attracted nearly 5000 signatures on the ActionStation platform.
Ngāti Uenukukōpako spent $30,000 on legal costs "to fight the council's plan", which came from part of the rōpu's Treaty settlement.
She said there were also about 2000 voluntary hours spent on the project over two years.
"We put our money, mahi and mana where our mouths are."
Kiriona said while the water might be treated, it could not be truly clean from a te ao Māori perspective if it had come into contact with human waste and needed to go through more steps for purification if it was to be considered noa - free from tapu.
Kiriona said she was pleased the litigation had stopped but an "innovative" solution needed to be found to avoid forest spraying.
The money spent by the council as part of the Environment Court case went to Stantec, Tompkins Wake and Mott MacDonald, among others.
Council infrastructure manager Stavros Michael said the cost of "expert advice and services" was a normal resource consent application cost.
"The work undertaken to support the consent application includes expert technical, engineering, legal and environmental advice relating to both the wastewater treatment plant upgrade and the proposed discharge to Arikiroa [Sanitorium Reserve].
"This will still be needed and used and would have been needed regardless of whether the application was dealt with through the Environment Court or not."
Te Arawa Lakes Trust chairman Sir Toby Curtis said the amount might seem like a lot of money, but as it worked out to about less than $2 per person in the district, it was "infinitesimal", especially "for what it achieved".
"When you look at it that way, that's not very much."
He said the cost "probably could have been avoided" but he was comfortable with the figure.
"The Rotorua council did the right thing, they listened to the people."
He said negotiations were going as well as they could although there would be some robust discussions ahead.
Tīpene Marr was a Māori constituency councillor for Kohi at the Bay of Plenty Regional Council, then Environment Bay of Plenty, from 2004 to 2019. Marr submitted against the proposed discharge method.
He said he didn't think it was an "exorbitant amount", especially since the council had "backed off" its original plan to put the treated wastewater in the lake.
He said more consultation would have helped and the council should have listened to Te Arawa Lakes Trust earlier.
"They are the Māori voice for the lakes."
Rotorua Residents and Ratepayers secretary Paddi Hodgkiss said the council's spending was "ill-advised and reflecting extremely poor judgment", and was not a good use of money.
Rotorua mayor Steve Chadwick said it was "rather naive" to think there should or would be no costs incurred as part of the consenting process, as obtaining resource consent was a regulatory requirement.
A discharge solution needed to be found and there had been an "extensive engagement process" resulting in a "preferred option".
In 2016, when elected members approved proceeding to a resource consent application for the preferred option, they also committed to working with stakeholders to attempt to find an alternative discharge option due to "opposition from some parties".
That resulted in the kawenata - agreement - between the council, Central North Island Iwi Holdings and Te Arawa Lakes Trust, she said.
That allowed "more time to find a suitable long-term solution for our community and that's a good outcome".
"Reaching agreement has taken a lot of hard work and goodwill from the parties involved."
Michael said the upgrade of the wastewater treatment plant was not opposed and would now be progressed in the "usual way" via the regional and district councils in their regulatory roles.
He said the council also needed to get a "bridging consent" to continue the current forest system for up to five years in the meantime as consent for that system expires in July next year. Work on the consent is under way.
Rotorua Lakes Council has discharged treated wastewater into Whakarewarewa Forest since 1991.
However, that system was no longer sustainable as the landowners objected to continued discharge in the forest and the level of nitrogen in the treated discharge wastewater also resulted in an abatement notice and required the council to investigate alternatives.
An iwi-led project steering committee was established and several years of engagement resulted in a preferred option to upgrade the treatment plant and discharge treated wastewater to Arikiroa / Sanitorium Reserve via a "culturally designed land contact bed".
In June 2016 the council agreed to proceed to the consent process, and committed to continuing discussions with stakeholders in an effort to find alternative options.
In August 2020 those discussions resulted in a new agreement between the council, CNI Iwi Holdings and Te Arawa Lakes Trust to work toward another long-term solution for discharge of recovered wastewater.
The agreement outlines a process to develop and implement a Sustainable Forest Approach (SFA) while the parties work toward a long-term solution.
The SFA includes upgrading council's wastewater treatment plant and use of a set area of land within Whakarewarewa Forest. CNI has agreed to allow the continuation of the current forest spray system – with some improvements – until the SFA is agreed and in place.
Source: Rotorua Lakes Council
One adult died at the scene and three people suffered minor to moderate injuries.