While Cardrona residents appear to support the new wastewater treatment plant and system currently being installed in the Cardrona Valley, the same cannot be said of the council’s proposed new drinking water scheme.

A significant number of submissions made to the council’s draft Long-term Plan (LTP) 2021-2031 were from Cardrona residents opposed to the council’s proposed Cardrona Drinking Water Supply scheme, describing it as an “unnecessary investment” and criticising its lack of consultation and paucity of detail in costs to the ratepayer.

Millions of dollars have been allocated to the new water supply scheme in the draft LTP but the need for a new scheme to replace Cardrona’s current water schemes is yet to be proven and the vast majority of local residents are opposed to it, Cardrona Residents and Ratepayers Association chair Blyth Adams said. 

Cardrona Water Services Ltd (CWS) currently supplies fresh water to about 95 per cent of the Cardrona township; and a second small scheme services the Benbrae apartments.

The Cardrona River is the source of several fresh water consents.

Blyth said Cardrona residents have been told it would be “in their best interests” to join the Queenstown Lake District Council’s (QLDC) proposed new scheme as there were public health concerns and the current water schemes were non-compliant.

Speaking on behalf of a number of Cardrona residents, James Gardner-Hopkins said that claim has proved false. The CWS scheme is compliant and by July will comply with all the new health standards and requirements.

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“There is no evidence that CWS is unwilling or unable to comply with any new standards,” he said.

He added the capacity of CWS supply was sufficient to meet both current and future potential developments in the Cardrona village area, a fact supported by the QLDC’s own planning teams which have approved consents for the development of the Cardrona Village masterplan, including CWS contracts to supply water to hundreds of hotel and hostel rooms, serviced apartments and residential units. 

Ninety-five per cent of Cardrona township is supplied by one existing water supply scheme.

He said the CWS scheme is not for sale and its customers do not want the scheme being transferred to council ownership.

James said residents already paid connection fees for the existing water scheme but under the QLDC’s proposal would be required to pay again for the new scheme whether or not they chose to connect to it.

An $8.1M cost is identified in the draft LTP for the scheme “but a further cost 10 years from now is also given of $11.5M” amounting to a total of $19.6M, Blyth said, yet how the funding will be raised is not clear.

It still hasn’t been disclosed to Cardrona residents if there will be targeted rates, what the connection charges might be, or the level of development contributions, he said.

As residents were already paying to connect to the new wastewater system, the additional cost would create hardship and was a burden that was neither necessary nor wanted, he said.

The proposed new water scheme would be a joint venture between the QLDC and Mt Cardrona Station which already has water rights issued by the Otago Regional Council. The $8.1M plan is to extend the water scheme to include Cardrona township.

“When the QLDC decided to pursue negotiations with Mount Cardrona Station, a private developer, [to secure the developer’s water rights] this was undertaken without any prior knowledge or consultation with the local community, who ultimately will be bearing the cost for the new water scheme,” Blyth said.

He said the QLDC has spent “precious little time” on public consultation. In October last year, the public was given 10 days to make submissions providing feedback on the council’s proposed “drinking water supply scheme” which had been presented by the council almost as “a foregone conclusion”.

“We... strongly suggest that the QLDC does not include the Cardrona township with the Mount Cardrona Station private water development scheme thereby saving over $8M and other associated servicing costs to the ratepayers,” he said.

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