Palmerston North City Council appeals abatement notice

The Palmerston North City Council has lodged an appeal against the abatement notice requiring it to "cease the discharge from its Wastewater Treatment Plant that is having a significant effect on aquatic life in the river".

Chief Executive Paddy Clifford said the terms of the abatement notice have given the Council no choice but to appeal.

“The notice requires us to cease aspects of our discharge by 30 November, but there is no indication of what aspects need to cease. We have initiated a joint work programme with Horizons to determine what’s actually happening in the river, but the testing and analysis will not be completed in time to meet the requirements of the abatement notice.”

“We’re not able to stop discharging in to the river, we don’t have the ability to store the treated wastewater until a solution is found, so we’ve been left with no option but to appeal the abatement notice and apply for a stay – which will put the abatement notice on hold until the appeal can be heard.”

Being unable to meet the requirements of the abatement notice could result in Horizons Regional Council issuing fines for non-compliance.

Appealing the abatement notice has not affected the Council’s commitment to finding out what’s happening in the river. The Council was already working with Horizons Regional Council to determine what further investigations might be needed when the notice was issued. Since receiving the notice, the Council has made formal proposals to Horizons for the joint work programme for further testing and officers from both Councils are in open dialogue and continue to work closely on developing a way forward.

“From the beginning we have been committed to a process of working with Horizons, and ensuring we are complying with all aspects of our Wastewater Treatment consent” said Mr Clifford.

Both the appeal and application for a stay of the abatement notice were lodged with the Environment Court today.


Background Information:

On 24 June 2011, PNCC received a performance assessment report for the Wastewater Treatment Plant discharge permits from Horizons from an inspection dated 7 June 2011. It assessed PNCC performance as compliant with 26 consent conditions, including meeting all the discharge standards for E.Coli and dissolved reactive phosphorous, and non-compliant for three conditions.

Of the three conditions that were assessed as non-compliant, two related to the monitoring bores around the sludge and wetland ponds, PNCC has taken immediate action to address the issues highlighted in the report.
The other non-compliant assessment was for consent condition 3(f). That condition states:
"The discharge shall not cause significant adverse effects on aquatic life … in the Manawatu River at the river flows and reasonable mixing distances outlined in Table 1."

PNCC sought further information from Horizons on how this had been assessed as non-compliant and what the evidence was that has resulted in a “significant effect” being determined. The basis for the request was advice from David Cameron, Senior Environmental Scientist for MWH, and author of the Benthic Biota Survey, that further investigation would be needed before determining whether there was a significant effect on the river’s aquatic life.

The Council was engaged in discussions with Horizons around this issue when, on 12 September, the Council became aware that Horizons would be presenting a report to their Environment Committee on 14 September on the alleged Waste Water Treatment Consent breaches. The Council asked Horizons to allow time for a report to be forwarded from PNCC to be considered alongside the Horizons report, with the intention of providing full information to inform any future enforcement action. On 14 September, Horizons postponed consideration of the report to their meeting on 11 October.

On the 7th of October, Horizons issued an abatement notice which requires the Council to cease, by 30 November 2011: “the discharge of treated wastewater from the Palmerston North Sewage Treatment Plant that has significant effect on aquatic life in the Manawatu River, at all flows, after reasonable mixing.”

On the 10th of October, the Palmerston North City Council provided an indicative outline to Horizons of the types of investigations that will need to be undertaken to try and determine what is happening in the river including the cause and significance of any effects. It needs to be accepted that while these investigations should provide a good indication of what’s occurring, the possibility remains that further investigations may be required if the results are not conclusive.

The Council sought legal advice on how best to respond to the abatement notice, and was advised that the only available course of action is to both appeal the abatement notice and apply for a stay.