The Queenstown Lakes District Council confirmed last week it would invoke emergency provisions in the Resource Management Act to begin discharging about 12,000cu m of treated effluent into the river each day.
At the time it said the discharge from its Shotover wastewater treatment plant would start once work to remove debris and vegetation from the channel to the river was completed.
In a statement today it confirmed the discharge would begin tomorrow.
The move comes after issues with the plant’s disposal field, including the threat of bird strike at the nearby Queenstown Airport runway from an increase in waterfowl attracted to the ponding in the disposal field.
The council's plan came to light earlier this month when Queenstown Lakes councillor Niki Gladding blew the whistle on it, resulting in protests and multiple stories in the press.
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 today 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
