The council received an application for resource consent from the Queenstown Lakes District Council to dump up to 2000cu m of solid waste sludge on a privately-owned Tarras farm.
If allowed, the proposal could open avenues to the CODC for the storage and disposal of its own waste, assets and contracts manager Murray Washington said. At present, the CODC dumped its sludge at the QLDC-owned Victoria Flats landfill in the Kawarau Gorge.
Sludge produced from raw sewage at Alexandra's wastewater treatment plant was trucked to the landfill. The QLDC also dumped its own sludge at the landfill, at a cost of $229 per tonne.
Mr Washington said the CODC paid a similar amount.
If the QLDC was granted consent to dump sludge on a rural property at a cheaper rate, similar proposals could be opened to the CODC, he said.
"We are particularly interested in how this application proceeds because it may open up opportunities to look at our own sludge in the future," Mr Washington said.
The QLDC's 170-page application stated discharging sludge to landfill was not considered sustainable and used up valuable space.
