From November, the Dunstan Hotel in Clyde will no longer be allowed to discharge treated waste straight into the Clutha River.
Since 1989, hotel proprietors have operated their own sewerage treatment plant, in the Miners Lane recreation reserve behind the hotel, which discharges treated wastewater into the river.
The resource consent for that kind of discharge runs out on November 1 this year and under Otago Regional Council policy, discharge to waterways is no longer allowed.
In a report to the Vincent Community Board, Central Otago District Council property manager Brian Taylor said because of the relationship of the volume of waste water to river flow, "the environmental impacts are probably infinitesimal to virtually non-existent".
"Nevertheless, it is still a discharge into a waterway and the activity is required to cease."
The board granted the proprietors consent to discharge the treated wastewater to reserve land near the hotel, subject to the system being based on an engineered design.
The proprietors have employed engineers to design the system, but the design was not ready by the time the board met.
The board also recommended screen planting of native trees around the treatment plant, to "soften visual impact".
That decision still needs to be ratified by the council.
