Central Otago
District Council staff will be closely watching the progress
of an application to store and discharge treated sewage
sludge on a Tarras property, with a view to doing the same
thing with Central Otago waste.
The council received an application for resource consent from
the Queenstown Lakes District Council to dump up to 2000cu m
of solid waste sludge on a privately-owned Tarras farm.
If allowed, the proposal could open avenues to the CODC for
the storage and disposal of its own waste, assets and
contracts manager Murray Washington said. At present, the
CODC dumped its sludge at the QLDC-owned Victoria Flats
landfill in the Kawarau Gorge.
Sludge produced from raw sewage at Alexandra's wastewater
treatment plant was trucked to the landfill. The QLDC also
dumped its own sludge at the landfill, at a cost of $229 per
tonne.
Mr Washington said the CODC paid a similar amount.
If the QLDC was granted consent to dump sludge on a rural
property at a cheaper rate, similar proposals could be opened
to the CODC, he said.
"We are particularly interested in how this application
proceeds because it may open up opportunities to look at our
own sludge in the future," Mr Washington said.
The QLDC's 170-page application stated discharging sludge to
landfill was not considered sustainable and used up valuable
space.
- rosie.manins@odt.co.nz
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