Submissions open on Kaitāia wastewater treatment consent

Kaitāia residents are being asked for their views on a council application to renew resource consents for its Kaitāia wastewater treatment plant.

The Kaitāia wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) treats wastewater from the Kaitāia and Awanui communities. It also receives waste removed from privately-owned septic tanks located in surrounding areas.

The treatment plant is managed by three consents:

1. Discharge of treated wastewater to the Awanui River
2. Seepage from the bottom of the treatment ponds
3. Odour to air

A resource consent application was lodged with Northland Regional Council (NRC) on 24 August 2021, but was placed on hold so that cultural impact assessments could be commissioned and engagement with tangata whenua could continue. Between 2021 to 2023, numerous hui with hapū and iwi and FNDC staff were held to draft resource consent conditions.

Over 50 conditions were agreed to in December 2023, and include that a Kaitiaki forum be established, and that a report on long-term options for the discharge of wastewater from the Kaitāia WWTP (including the option of discharging treated wastewater to land) be completed within seven years of the consent being granted. For more information, go to the proposed conditions on the NRC website.

The consent renewal application (which includes an assessment of environmental effects) was notified under the Resource Management Act 1991 (RMA) by NRC on Thursday 29 February 2024. The public has 20 working days to make a submission on that application.

The resource consent renewal application can be viewed on NRC’s website or at its Kaitāia office at 192 Commerce Street.

You can make a submission on the resource consent renewal application on the NRC website. Submissions can also be posted to Northland Regional Council, Private Bag 9021, Te Mai, Whangārei 0143, or emailed to info@nrc.govt.nz.