Long Term Community Plan 2012-2022 - Hurunui District Council

Hurunui Community Long Term Plan 2012 - 2022
funding for any of our ratepayers to upgrade our drinking water
to legislated standards. There are simply too few people on the
smaller community schemes in particular, to be able to pay for
these upgrades. By funding via a district wide rate, the cost is
spread across all ratepayers, hence making it more affordable
and achievable over all. This does mean that everyone pays,
whether or not on a private water scheme.
Although the capital works required won’t start being built until
2024, we are going to start rating from 2015/16 to build up
funds which will offset the full capital cost when it is necessary.
The cost of this will be $41 per property and this rate fund,
along with accumulating interest, should provide a fund of
approximately $3 million to assist with meeting the capital cost.
The method by which the balance of the capital work and the
on-going operational costs will be met, will be refined over time.
This will again be a topic for discussion when we review our
long term plan again in 2015.
Sewer Improvements
Disposal of treated wastewater direct to waterways has been
a common practice nationally in the past, but this approach is
no longer considered sustainable or environmentally acceptable.
In our district, we have seven wastewater treatment plants
using oxidation ponds as an effluent treatment process. These
treatment plants are located at Amberley, Hanmer Springs,
Cheviot, Greta Valley, Motunau Beach, Hawarden and Waikari.
We are going to do more work to our Hanmer Springs
wastewater treatment plant so that the treated wastewater
is disposed onto land instead of into the waterway (which
is a resource consent condition). We are investigating the
best options available to us in Hanmer Springs for both land
acquisition and improved effluent treatment. The cost for this
sewer land disposal work is $1,200,000 factored into year
2015/16 and will be paid for by the Hanmer Springs Ward
ratepayers. Other planned work includes improving dissolved
oxygen levels in the treatment ponds to eliminate issues such
as odour and reduced treatment efficiencies. For this work we
plan to spend $220,000 in 2012/13.
Cheviot’s wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) disposal
system is spray irrigation to land or onto the overland flow area
when the land disposal area is saturated. We are investigating
possible long-term treatment options (long term capacities; soil
permeability and content analysis; seasonal effects, flow/water
quality/ecology of Crystal Brook and neighbouring groundwater
quality assessments) associated with treatment and disposal of
wastewater from the Cheviot WWTP. We will work with the
Canterbury Regional Council to agree on the best solution
going forward in 2012/13. This plant’s resource consent expires
11 September 2014, when the Canterbury Regional Council will
decide if improvements are required to renew this resource
consent. No disposal to waterways is allowed. We are planning
to pay for this through usual operating costs at no increase to
ratepayers.
Amberley and Waikari have existing treated effluent disposal
to land, with Greta Valley and Motunau Beach using a primary
option of disposal to land and secondary option to waterway
when the land is saturated, for example, seasonal wet weather
conditions. Hawarden’s system is disposal to waterway until
changes are effected through the resource consent renewal,
which will be in 2027 or subject to any new requirements under
the Natural Resources Regional Plan (NRRP) review currently
underway at Canterbury Regional Council. We will consider
more natural methods of disposal, such as wetland filtration
if proven feasible and cost effective. All systems are closely
monitored and audited by the Canterbury Regional Council for
compliance with stringent consent conditions to protect and
enhance the environment surrounding these treatment plants.
Stormwater Improvements
We have been working on a programme of stormwater
improvements to the Amberley township and Amberley
and Leithfield Beach communities since 2008 when we had
significant property flooding following high rainfall events.
The improvements have taken a disappointingly long time
to implement due to the resource consent process and
Environment Court hearings process. So far, only two major
physical works have been completed – the flood diversion
from Dock Creek along Lawcocks Road, and a piped outfall of
the Leithfield Outfall Drain to the sea. By the time this plan
is finalised, the flood diversion works in the Amberley swamp
area (to include an outlet culvert under Stanton Rd) and the
area from Dry Gully to the Mimimoto Lagoon will have been
completed, as well as the new pipelines in Amberley.
A flood flow diversion from the Eastern Drain across to the
Amberley North lagoon is planned in 2012/13 to complete the
flood mitigation works. Detailed design and land ownership
issues still have to be finalised. $294,000 has been budgeted for
this work (to do detention ponds and upgrades), with a further
$84,000 in the 2016/17 budget for Chamberlain Park filters.
This will be funded through a special rate across Amberley Ward.
Applications for global consents to discharge stormwater from
the Amberley urban area and new residential developments in
Hanmer Springs will be made in the 2012/13 year. Both of these
will be funded via a separate rate for the Amberley Wards and
Hanmer Springs as well as development contributions.
We will be recruiting a stormwater engineer in 2013/2014 to
manage this area of our work. This engineer will be responsible
for developing district-wide stormwater catchment and
management plans, and undertake the range of tasks required to
ensure we have effective stormwater systems in place, inclusive
of appropriate maintenance regimes.
13