Dr Nic Peet is at right in this 2012 photograph taken at Whanganui's former wastewater treatment plant. Photo / Stuart Munro
A new report puts the cost of getting regional wastewater treatment up to national standards at between $330 million and $500m, says Horizons Regional Council strategy and regulation manager Dr Nic Peet.
The report is by environmental consultancy Boffa Miskell for the Department of Internal Affairs. It covers all of
New Zealand and says small towns will be disproportionately affected - towns in the Horizons and Waikato regions especially so.
There are 46 wastewater treatment plants in the Horizons region. In June this year only 34 per cent were fully compliant, and 22 plants were significantly noncompliant.
A further 10 have been checked since, Peet said, and the majority of those were noncompliant as well - though sometimes for minor reasons.
In order to lower the incidence of E.coli and meet the objectives of the Government's national policy statement for freshwater management, 24 of the Horizons region's 46 plants would need an upgrade. The capital cost would be between $330m and $500m and about half of the region's ratepayers would be expected to pay it.
