Hawke’s Bay Regional Council Media Release

12 July 2011

Wastewater Plan Change Better targeted

Changes to rules for discharging domestic wastewater on private land are being proposed by Hawke’s Bay Regional Council.

The proposed plan change aims to place a stronger focus on locations where on-site wastewater could be a risk to the environment and people’s health, rather than on zoning.

“The current rules were appropriate for the time when they were developed, in the late 1990s, but are now well behind building and development trends, so we need to have more contemporary and robust rules that make sense for the way people live now,” says Charlotte Drury, Senior Consents Officer who is co-ordinating the plan change.

The current rules take a blunt approach, based on a property’s zoning under the district plan or the lot size. Property size or location do not translate to a particular level of risk from wastewater discharge on a property.

The proposed new rules however will consider land slope and property size along with the proposed discharge volume and various site features that could limit the ongoing operation and effectiveness of some wastewater systems.

The plan change will also catch up with the modernisation of waste water systems. Currently owners need to renew consents for any wastewater systems installed since April 2000, even though these modern systems are well designed and produce good quality wastewater. This will no longer be automatically needed.

Consents will only be needed in places where the waste water discharge could potentially be problem. So, as currently drafted, the plan change will mean a large number of people who previously required a discharge permit will no longer need one, while other people who previously did not require a discharge permit will need to obtain one.

An informal consultation on the proposals was carried out earlier this year, and further changes are now proposed as part of this plan change. One of these is the requirement for any new wastewater discharge over the Ruataniwha Plains unconfined aquifer to be authorised by resource consent.

The plan change will be publicly notified on July 13, 2011. There is a twenty working day submission period that follows and submissions must be lodged with Hawke’s Bay Regional Council by 5.00pm Wednesday 10 August 2011. Further information on the plan change plus documentation is available on the Council’s website www.hbrc.govt.nz/Readaboutit/Forconsultation, or is available for viewing at the Dalton Street office and all public libraries in the region.

ENDS

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