The Environment Court has released its decision to approve the application for an Enforcement Order over the Shotover Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP), following mediation between Queenstown Lakes District Council (QLDC), Queenstown Airport Corporation (QAC), and Otago Regional Council (ORC).

QLDC General Manager Property & Infrastructure, Tony Avery accepted the Environment Court’s ruling and was pleased to share that Council was already making progress against the orders.

“We’re ahead of our programme to significantly upgrade the WWTP by the end of this year, which will introduce a second treatment reactor and a range of supporting infrastructure to further improve the quality of treated water discharged from the facility and cater for our growing district,” said Mr Avery.

“The Orders largely reflect activities and investments that Council has already identified and committed to, which is a positive outcome and positions us well to deliver on these obligations on behalf of the community.”

The Environment Court decision includes a range of requirements to avoid, remedy, and/or mitigate adverse effects on the environment caused by the operation of the Shotover WWTP, which must be actioned by specific dates.

These requirements relate to the operation, maintenance and upgrading of the facility, and include but are not limited to:

• enhancements to the facility’s Operations and Maintenance (O&M) manual, sampling and monitoring regime, and operator training procedures;
• completion of upgrade works already underway at the facility by 31 December 2025; and
• decommissioning the facility’s remaining oxidation ponds by 31 December 2027.

The decision also requires QLDC to submit a consent application for a new disposal system by May 2026, and to implement that system by December 2030.

The Environment Court’s decision is separate to Council’s retrospective consent sought in early May 2025 for emergency works at the WWTP, and the bypassing of the facility’s disposal field to discharge treated wastewater into Shotover River. This application remains with ORC for assessment.

Mr Avery confirmed that the results of ongoing testing of the treated wastewater since direct discharge began remain well within consented limits and are publicly available on the Council's website.

The decision made by the Environment Court also declined Aotearoa Water Action Inc’s (AWA's) application to join the enforcement proceedings out of time. The Court agreed with QLDC, and the parties, that granting the waiver would have been highly prejudicial to QLDC, ORC and QAC given the work undertaken through mediation to finalise the Enforcement Orders, and also, the Court found that AWA did not have an interest in the matter greater than the public generally.

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