The Clutha District Council was considered to be fully complying with just one of its wastewater discharge consents and it was significantly non-compliant with nine.
It showed moderate non-compliance with five, and non-compliance with three more was considered low risk.
All district councils in Otago had examples of significant non-compliance.
The Dunedin City Council had one significant compliance breach, but it was fully compliant with six consents.
The Clutha District Council has eight current abatement notices and the Central Otago District Council has four.
A report about compliance was discussed by the Otago Regional Council yesterday and Cr Alan Somerville called the content shocking.
He wondered what might be done to get councils closer to meeting their obligations more quickly.
Regional council compliance manager Tami Sergeant said progress was being made towards the city and district councils achieving compliance.
Richard Saunders, soon to be the regional council’s chief executive, said a lot more work was required across the board.
Wholesale improvement would take time and further investment in upgrades.
The grades were determined by factors that ranged from water quality readings to submitting required information.
The regional council commented in its report process-related breaches might not have immediate environmental consequences, but inability to properly assess a plant’s operation was itself a risk.
Cr Bryan Scott said councils in the region needed to up their game urgently.
Cr Michael Laws said the numbers suggested Clutha was "almost the delinquent offender", Central Otago was struggling and Queenstown-Lakes had problems as well.
Asked for comment, Clutha Mayor Bryan Cadogan acknowledged there was work to do.
"However, it is also important to note that we’ve been working on this and the results show there has been improvement," he said.
The district had three fewer wastewater treatment plants with significant non-compliance than in 2021, he said.
"Clutha District Council has been working closely with Otago Regional Council to achieve compliance, meeting regularly to progress and discuss any issues.
"Much work has been undertaken to ensure that there is a clear pathway to consent on all our non-complying issues.
"This has entailed a combination of resolutions that are not just restricted to infrastructure upgrades, and with more changes to come, I’m confident that we’ll continue to see improvements."
The council had ended its contract with Citycare "by mutual agreement".
The Central Otago District Council was approached for comment and was unable to provide it yesterday, but signalled it would respond.
How they rate
Compliance results.—
- Clutha District Council: Full compliance 1; low-risk non-compliance 3, moderate non-compliance 5, significant non-compliance 9.
- Central Otago District Council: Full 2; low non-compliance 3, moderate 1, significant 2.
- Dunedin City Council: Full 6; low non-compliance 3, moderate 3, significant 1.
- Queenstown-Lakes District Council: Full 2; low non-compliance 4, significant 3.
- Waitaki District Council: Full 0; low non-compliance 2, moderate 4, significant 2.
