The treated effluent from the Shotover Wastewater Treatment Plant was sent along a newly-cleared channel on the Shotover Delta to an outlet at the Shotover River.
Staff from Queenstown Lakes District Council contractors could be seen making an inspection at the outlet this morning.
The QLDC confirmed last week it would invoke emergency provisions in the Resource Management Act to begin discharging about 12,000 cubic metres of treated effluent into the river each day.
Explaining the council’s decision to media last week, property and infrastructure general manager Tony Avery said the plant’s failing disposal field meant it had been breaching its resource consent for some time.
It had previously thought it did not have grounds under the RMA to invoke the provisions, but that had changed recently when Queenstown Airport Corporation asked for "urgent action" to address the heightened risk of bird strike.
The discharge would have no impact on downstream users, and would be "undetectable" in the Kawarau River, Mr Avery said.
However, the Shotover and Kawarau Rivers would be monitored to "ensure effects on the environment are understood and to enable action to be taken should anything unexpected be observed".
The council yesterday said a resource consent for this interim disposal method would be sought from Otago Regional Council retrospectively, and had to be lodged within 20 working days of formally notifying them of the works.
- APL
