Queenstown Lakes District Council staff were directed to check its community engagement policy, and to explore whether a court-imposed deadline could be extended, after strong advocacy by Cr Niki Gladding at a full council workshop on Thursday.
Cr Gladding said she feared councillors were "rushing" to a decision — currently scheduled for March 19 — because of the Environment Court’s enforcement order last June that requires the council to lodge a consent application for the chosen option by May 30.
She also questioned whether the council was complying with its community engagement policy by making the decision without formal consultation.
If the Otago Regional Council and iwi were agreeable, the council could ask the court for an extension, she said.
Were the council to ultimately decide on disposal into the Kawarau River, it would still be valuable to ask ratepayers if they were prepared to spend more on treating the wastewater to a higher standard.
Councillors are considering five options for replacing the treatment plant’s failed disposal field on the Shotover delta.
The Environment Court has ordered that a new disposal system be operating by the end of 2030 after council managers invoked emergency powers last March to begin discharging the plant’s output directly into the Shotover River.
Council staff have recommended direct discharge into the Kawarau River, via a rock-lined channel, on the grounds it would provide the most certainty for dealing with wastewater flows out to 2060, is the cheapest option at $44 million, and can be completed by the 2030 deadline.
Three other disposal options in the vicinity of the plant are estimated to cost between $80m and $206m.
All four have been assessed as having a "less than minor" impact on the Kawarau River’s water quality.
A newly added fifth option presented at the workshop — piping the wastewater 15km uphill to the Crown Terrace for disposal on land — could cost up to $650m.
It would add an estimated $1200 per property to rates, and $28,000 more to the development contribution per connection.
Council property and infrastructure general manager Tony Avery said councillors could choose an option on March 19 in the knowledge that public consultation would follow as part of the consenting process.
The council had to deal with the wastewater coming out of the treatment plant now, for which it was not currently complying with its resource consent, Mr Avery said.
"We recognise this is a difficult decision.
"The stark reality is we’ve got a lot of treated wastewater that we need to dispose of."
Cr Gavin Bartlett said he doubted whether formal consultation was necessary because all the disposal options were better than the status quo, there was funding already allocated in the long-term plan — which had been consulted on — and community drop-in sessions had been held in December and January.
Cr Jon Mitchell agreed but said a deadline extension was still worth exploring because the council had to "take the community along with us".
