QLDC plan to dump sludge

Tarras farmers Ann and Beau Trevathan look towards their neighbours' property, where the Queenstown Lakes District Council proposes to store and discharge treated sewage sludge from its Wanaka wastewater treatment plant. Photo by Rosie Manins.

The QLDC has lodged a 170-page application with the Central Otago District Council to store and discharge up to 2000cu m of sludge on a 3500ha Ardgour Rd property each year.

• Central could follow option 

Solid waste derived from raw sewage would be transported from the Wanaka wastewater treatment plant and stored on an uncovered concrete pad at the Tarras property. Once a year it would be applied to paddocks within the farm property, owned by Wanaka residents Bruce and Linda Jolly.

Consent was being sought until at least 2045, when it was predicted up to 165 tonnes of sludge would have to be discharged from the Wanaka plant each month.

At present about 70 tonnes of treated sewage sludge from the plant was discharged to Victoria Flats landfill each month, at a dumping cost to the QLDC of $229 per tonne.

Mr Jolly said he would benefit from "free fertiliser" being delivered to his property at the QLDC's cost, and in turn the council would not have to pay dumping fees.

He said the dry soil on his farm was in need of anything which could boost its water retention capacity, and sludge had been proven to do that elsewhere in the world.

"Going by the experts' opinions that have been given from various fields, it [sludge] is a very good soil restorer, hence my interest as a farmer. Putting a resource like that into landfill seems a waste," he said.

Mr Jolly said the dryness of soil on his property would also minimise the risk of leaching, but neighbouring land owners had mixed feelings about the proposal.

Ardgour Rd farmers Beau and Ann Trevathan, who own and live on about 140ha of land which borders the Jolly's section, were worried about potential adverse effects of the sludge storage and discharge nearby.

Mr and Mrs Trevathan farm beef and venison on their property, and said they would make a submission to the CODC opposing the application.

"There are major concerns with regional councils over dairy effluent going back on land and finishing up in waterways. If there was going to be something floating down my stream I would prefer for it to have gone through a cow rather than a human," Mr Trevathan said.