Federated Farmers said the council had "botched" its response after the farming advocacy group this week said its plan would foist "astronomical costs" of billions of dollars on unaware ratepayers by increasing the costs of Three Waters for district councils.
It comes as Environment Minister Penny Simmonds weighs in on the issue, telling the council in a letter her concern about the cost of the plan to ratepayers had intensified after recent comments from Federated Farmers and Beef+Lamb New Zealand.
Ms Simmonds was alarmed there was some indication the council had the information about the costs of the plan, but did not release it to her.
"Given I specifically requested information on the costs, I would have expected such information to have been made available to me.
"I also expect it to be made available to Otago ratepayers."
She requested the council urgently confirm if the concerns raised by the farming advocacy groups came from information held by the council.
Otago president Luke Kane yesterday said the council had been "caught with their pants down" and its response to concerns left the community with more questions than answers.
"We’ve raised some serious concerns about how the regional council plan to implement the principle of Te Mana o te Wai in Otago.
"We expected straight answers from the council about what these rules could mean for our community, but we’re yet to hear anything compelling to address our concerns.
"It’s simply not good enough to say there are ‘some inaccuracies’ in what Federated Farmers have claimed without providing any evidence to support that statement."
Mr Kane said the council was "dancing on the head of a pin" and hiding behind vague bureaucratic language.
"The rules may not include an explicit prohibition in name, but they will almost certainly mean prohibition in practice.
"If the rules require a discretionary consent to discharge treated wastewater to water, with a strong preference for discharging to land, what do council expect to happen?"
He was also disappointed that elected councillors, including chairwoman Gretchen Robertson, had failed to front up and answer tough questions.
"They’re completely missing in action. We might need to send out a search and rescue team to try and find them," he said.
Cr Robertson yesterday replied to Ms Simmonds’ letter.
She said the minister’s question around whether the council held information on the costs reported by media appeared related to the recent Federated Farmers statements.
"Regional councils are not as well placed as district and city councils to answer questions around Three Waters infrastructure costs.
"ORC has not sought detailed information on the potential costs of land-based wastewater discharge as land-based treatment is not a specific requirement of the land and water regional plan."
She defended the council’s work on the plan.
"Whilst we have some excellent water quality in Otago, like other regions, there are also significant degradation challenges for both urban and rural areas.
"Leaving it too late risks further environmental degradation in Otago, given our current plan has been widely acknowledged as no longer fit for the task."
