The Queenstown Lakes District Council’s Shotover wastewater treatment plant has been forced into the spotlight amid concerns untreated wastewater has leaked from it into the Kawarau River.
Yesterday, the ORC said five infringement notices had already been issued this year, due to issues at the treatment plant late last year.
But recent testing showed the treatment plant’s discharges were compliant, the ORC said.
Meanwhile, the ORC this week refused to release the last three months’ correspondence between the ORC and the QLDC concerning the wastewater treatment plant.
The newspaper subsequently complained to the ombudsman.
Cr Michael Laws said the council’s response was "predictable" and that "radical reform" of the council was required in light of its lack of transparency and openness.
"I’ve railed against the increasing refusal of the ORC staff to observe the legal requirements of the LGOIMA [Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act 1987] and its excessive secrecy."
Cr Gary Kelliher said he hoped the ombudsman upheld the ODT complaint.
"I’m regularly required to read hundreds, sometimes a thousand-plus pages, for council meetings, and when something is contentious it’s often cunningly held back until the near last minute, like the night before the meeting.
"Your request does not seem unreasonable, as LGOIMA is a requirement of local government."
In November last year, the ODT asked for all correspondence between the two councils relating to the treatment plant for the entire calendar year.
The ORC said an initial email search produced "thousands of documents" that would need to be carefully assessed due to the investigation into the operation of the treatment plant under way and possible enforcement action.
As such, ORC legal staff asked the ODT to narrow its request.
As a result, the ODT asked the ORC legal staff to reduce the scope of the request to a manageable level, noting the newspaper was more interested in the recent correspondence.
The initial email search for those dates returned 1777 results, the ORC said.
It was still too much work for the council to review, redact, and release that many emails, the staff said.
It refused the request.
Last month, ORC chief executive Richard Saunders issued a statement in which he called the investigation into Shotover treatment plant discharges into the Kawarau River the council’s highest priority investigation.
The council was considering prosecuting the QLDC and the ORC had issued two abatement notices and a total of six infringement notices since 2021.
However, recent regional council testing had shown discharges were well treated and complied with consent conditions.
Yesterday, deputy chief executive Amanda Vercoe said the ORC’s investigation into incidents at the Shotover wastewater site — under way since July last year — had not yet concluded but was "nearing its end".
"Two abatement notices are in place and 10 infringements have been issued since the start of 2024.
"Five of these infringement notices have been issued this year relating to issues that happened on site towards the end of 2024.
"As with an investigation undertaken by any agency, which may result in court action, we are unable to release further details or comment further at this point, as this could potentially prejudice any actions we may take in the future.
"Council is very aware of the interest in these investigations, but must ensure that we do not prejudice any outcomes."
Mrs Vercoe said recent wastewater sampling by council staff indicated discharge from the plant was highly treated.
