Shotover Wastewater Treatment Plant in Queenstown. Photo: Supplied / Queenstown Lakes District Council
Wastewater will be directly discharged into the Shotover River from Monday morning, the Queenstown Lakes District Council (QLDC) has confirmed.
The council is enacting emergency powers under the Resource Management Act to pump at least 12,000 cubic metres of treated effluent into the river per day, after concerns about bird strike at the nearby airport.
Problems with the water disposal area had caused ponding and an increase in the number of waterfowl flocking to the habitat.
The daily discharge would be the equivalent of nearly five Olympic-sized swimming pools a day.
"The use of emergency powers has been confirmed following notification by QAC [Queenstown Airport] of increased waterfowl activity around the ponded field which poses an elevated risk to aircraft operations in the area (including being close to/under the main flight path)," QLDC said in a statement.
"A resource consent for this interim disposal method will be sought from Otago Regional Council retrospectively, and must be lodged within 20 working days of formally notifying them of the works."
Queenstown Lakes Community Action spokesperson Nikki Macfarlane said the group was disappointed that the council was pushing ahead with the plan.
She said the Shotover River was a gem in the Queenstown Lakes community.
"It's hugely used for recreational purposes, it's used for fishing, it's a really significant ecological zone and that's out primary concern that the river itself will be damaged or have potential problems because of that," she said.
"Once the effluent moves into the convergence between the Shotover River and the Kawarau River it moves downstream and there are communities within that area that actually get their drinking water from that river. This is a huge issue for the entire community."
Macfarlane said the council had not consulted with locals about the plan.
"The fact that they've just gone ahead with this without trying to understand what the concerns are that the community have, which are valid concerns... it's super disappointing," she said.
She said the group had sent a letter to the council calling for more information.
QLDC said the effluent would be highly treated and it was confident water quality would not be impacted.
It said the Shotover and Kawarau Rivers were both safe for swimming and other recreational activities.
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