A Clyde ratepayer says property owners could be forced to pay twice if a proposed redesignation of land for a Clyde wastewater treatment plant goes ahead.
Muttontown resident Suzanne O'Reilly told the Otago Daily Times yesterday all properties were served by septic tanks.
‘‘Even the developers of the new Sunderland Estate subdivision near [Dunstan Hospital] made no provision for sewage reticulation in the subdivision and those people are all on brand new septic tanks. The council must have known before that subdivision was built that it was planning to have this new scheme in place,'' she said.
Ratepayers might have to pay to join a new scheme as well as pay for the cost of the new treatment plant, she said.
The Central Otago District Council (CODC) utilities manager Peter Greenwood had said at a hearing last week that there were concerns about a high level of nitrates in bore water from some bore sites and it was not yet known if septic tanks were the cause.
Elevated levels of nitrates in drinking water posed a risk to infants by causing methaemoglobinaemia, or ‘‘blue baby'', in which the blood's ability carry oxygen was compromised.
Nitrate levels above 10g/cu m were of concern for that reason. Bore one at the Dunstan Golf Course had readings of 16-34g/cu m and bore two on Department of Conservation land near Springvale Rd had 9.3-11g/cu m.
There are more than 800 residents living in Clyde and it is the largest town in Otago that does not have its own reticulation scheme, Mr Greenwood said.
Mrs O'Reilly was concerned that sewage from Alexandra would be piped to the site,and that the Golden Rd subdivision off Springvale Rd and the proposed Melview subdivision nearby were the reason behind the redesignation application.
