Odour causes proves elusive

An internal investigation is being undertaken by the Queenstown Lakes District Council into odour issues at the Wanaka-based Project Pure Wastewater Treatment Plant, QLDC project manager Martin O’Malley said.

An officer of the Otago Regional Council (ORC) attended the site on 27 November 2009 following odour complaints and determined that the plant was operating in breach of its consent, resulting in the receipt of an infringement notice and fine.

Following this, and in light of the ongoing complaints from neighbours, the council had therefore determined to undertake an intensive investigation, with an engineer based at the plant for a week.

“Our aim is to establish, with certainty, the cause of odours that are being detected by residents and develop a plan going forward to mitigate any further odours,’ Mr O’Malley said.

Council hoped that affected residents would work with the council to establish any timing or condition patterns.

“The asset engineer will endeavour to speak with the residents who have been advised of the investigation. It will be important to get their input,” Mr O’Malley said.

Once the cause was understood then the council would work closely with the designers and contractors to address any issues.

The investigation - which would include the operations of the wastewater network in Wanaka, with particular emphasis on the pumping station operation overnight - commences this week and was envisaged to take up to six weeks to complete.

Outputs of the investigation would include: -

Meeting with ORC personnel on-site at Project Pure after approximately a month to discuss findings.
Reviewing the Project Pure Odour Management Plan.

Production of an interim report to discuss with residents and ORC, prior to final report being produced.
Supplying the ORC with a Project Pure Odour Investigation Report. This will include an Odour Mitigation Plan moving forward.

‘We are determined to resolve the issue through this process,” Mr O’Malley said.