Auckland Council Applies for Discharge Consent Including Sewage Overflows
Andrew Mackintosh February 1st, 2018
Auckland Council’s “Healthy Waters” have submitted a “35 year Auckland-wide stormwater network discharge consent” application, to Auckland Council.
This is the consent that will allow sewage to be discharged into Meola Waititiko (and many other waterways) allowing the streams to continue to be open sewers in our neighbourhoods, and poison our harbours and beaches.
A supporting “assessment of environmental effects” document states two pertinent facts:
- “Discharges of untreated wastewater to land, streams and the coast generally occur as a result of the network overflowing”
- “Benefits from limited resources are maximised by targeting our priorities to achieve the best outcomes we can afford.”
While it is unlikely that there is any option but to grant this consent, as there is no immediate alternative, this is not good enough for Auckland, and certainly was not the kind of consent that the Resource Management Act intended to enable, so make a submission and have your say!
Submissions are open until 20th of March, and can be made here: Resource Consent Submissions
More information (including the “Assessment of Environmental Effects”) can be found here: Resource Consent Application
For proposed STEPS response see our blog on this site dated 11 March 2018.
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[…] Auckland Stormwater Discharge Consent Further to our blog of 1 Feb, STEPS has now established that this consent is for ongoing discharges for 35 years and the application contains very few conditions. We are pleased to see Auckland Council is publicly notifying this consent in line with their commitment for more transparency with water investments. (By contrast the 35 year combined sewer network discharge consent obtained by Watercare Services in 2014 was not publicly notified). […]