The Otago Regional Council has lodged an application with the Environment Court seeking an Enforcement Order against the Queenstown Lakes District Council around aspects of its operation of the Shotover Wastewater Treatment Plant, near Queenstown, which QLDC owns and operates.

ORC’s chief executive Richard Saunders said following the conclusion of a more than year-long investigation, a decision was made to apply to the Environment Court for an Enforcement Order - under section 316 of the Resource Management Act 1991.

Recent tests of the discharge showed a high level of treatment indicating there would be no adverse effect on water quality in the river, he said.

“While tests have shown the discharges to be highly treated, we want QLDC to be compliant with its consent. It’s up to the Environment Court to determine a decision on compliance,” he said.

The issues around consent compliance mainly relate to the performance of the plant’s ground disposal field (where the treated water from the plant is expected to soak through the ground and not pond), and are why the Order application has been made, Richard said.

“It’s vitally important for the environment overall that consent holders achieve compliance with their consent conditions.’’

Richard explained there was a distinction between seeking a prosecution, compared to seeking an Enforcement Order.

An Enforcement Order is a court issued directive requiring certain actions to be taken within set time frames to fix a problem, while separately, prosecution is a merely a punitive approach and does not address the underlying cause of non-compliance. 

He said an Enforcement Order itself is an “escalated” form of compliance action, and if approved by the Environment Court, would require QLDC to take specified actions to avoid, remedy and/or mitigate adverse effects on the environment at the Shotover Wastewater Treatment

Plant.

Richard emphasised any decision on the Enforcement Order application will be made by the Environment Court.

He said the investigation was the “highest priority” for ORC, and the regional council took its role as regulator seriously, noting the investigation process had taken up significant staff time and expertise.

The Enforcement Order application follows the issuing to date of two abatement notices and 10 infringement notices.