The orders take up seven pages of an Environment Court decision, released on Monday, that requires the Queenstown Lakes District Council (QLDC) to take measures to "avoid, remedy and/or mitigate adverse effects on the environment" at the plant.
The Otago Regional Council (ORC) applied for the orders in January in response to the QLDC’s ongoing breaches of its consents for operating the plant, as well as a series of abatement notices and infringement notices the ORC has issued since 2021.
Mr Lewers said the decision was a good outcome for both councils, effectively formalising a long-term work programme the QLDC had already put in place.
"It formalises the monitoring, it gives clarity to the community, and it puts in some court-ordered milestones we have to meet."
Asked if the ORC’s enforcement order application had been the best way to deal with the compliance issues, Mr Lewers said that was "arguable".
"But the way the legislation is written, from the ORC’s point of view as a regulator, that’s the only pathway they can go down.
"It’s open and it’s transparent, so I understand why they went that way."
ORC chief executive Richard Saunders said the decision "paved the way" for a plan of action so the QLDC could comply with its consents and the court orders.
The orders gave a clear indication of what was required to remedy and upgrade the wastewater plant, as well as "maintaining transparency with ongoing monitoring".
The two councils took part in two days of court-facilitated mediation in early March.
The Queenstown Airport Corporation, which started raising concerns late last year about a potential elevated risk of bird strike caused by ponding in the failing disposal field, which is near the airport’s runway, was an interested party in the proceedings.
The court orders cover the treatment plant’s operations and management manual, staff training, sampling and monitoring, technical upgrades, contingency measures in case of treatment failures and deadlines for implementation.
They also include a requirement for the QLDC to have a long-term disposal system for treated wastewater operating by the end of 2030.
In the decision, Judge John Hassan quoted from an affidavit to the court by QLDC infrastructure operations manager Simon Mason, who said the council "realises that it has to do better", and was working on an "enduring and sustainable long-term outcome" for disposing of treated wastewater from the plant.
The plant’s land disposal field began failing soon after it was commissioned in 2019.
Last September, with treated wastewater continually spilling from the field, an unconsented overflow pipe was installed to allow the effluent to flow on to the Shotover delta.
In a contentious move, the QLDC invoked emergency powers to begin direct discharge of treated wastewater into the Shotover River on March 31, citing the airport company’s bird strike concerns.
It lodged a retrospective consent application for the direct discharge with the ORC on May 1 - the application is still being processed.
