The search for a solution to sewerage problems in Hampden goes on, 16 years after the issue was first raised.
The latest investigations are being undertaken by the Hampden Wastewater Liaison Group, elected at a public meeting in September to work with the Waihemo Community Board and Waitaki District Council staff on solutions.
In 1996 and 2006 the idea of a reticulated system was mooted, and in May this year the board allocated funds to determine what needed to be done.
Board and liaison group chairman Rod Philip said at a meeting in October discussion centred on the issues and what could be done about them, rather than on the details of a scheme that might never happen.
"We need to understand if there are any problems before rushing into anything," he said.
Some property owners had installed holding tanks which were pumped out regularly, so a long-term decision was needed.
The meeting discussed the effects of the existing septic tanks on public health, and results of inspections recently undertaken by the council's environmental health officer, which found that, on the whole, septic tanks were working well, only a few properties needing to remedy any non-compliance.
"Most of the properties found to have issues in 1996 had been repaired, but some problems remained," Mr Philip said.
Modern on-site systems worked well on properties as small as a quarter acre, so the use of on-site systems need not impede the growth of the town.
Some councils ran a programme of septic tank cleaning and inspections, and it was suggested this could work well for Hampden.
