A strong message will be delivered by Otago Fish & Game and freshwater lobby groups at the Queenstown Lake District Council (QLDC) annual plan hearing in Wānaka today (Monday May 22).

Otago Fish & Game, Friends of Bullock Creek (FOBC), Guardians of Lake Wānaka, Wānaka Lake Swimmers Club, and Touchstone say Bullock Creek and its nearby residents will be condemned to seven more years of flooding and pollution during heavy rain if QLDC defers its promise to upgrade an inadequate stormwater system.

Bullock Creek, which traverses a large part of central Wānaka, passes through a Fish & Game wetland which was QEII-covenanted in 2022.

Fish & Game says before urban development the creek has “pure drinkable water … and was not subject to sedimentation”.

Fish & Game environmental officer Nigel Paragreen said the organisation had agreed to a $6M Stone Street upgrade at its Bullock Creek Hatchery Springs site after eight years of inaction over discharge issues from the neighbouring Alpha Series development.

An example of stormwater overflowing the Alpha Series residential subdivision's retention pond and heading for Bullock Creek. PHOTO: QLDC

“This is a legacy issue caused by past sloppy work by the QLDC and the developer. They are failing Bullock Creek, Lake Wānaka and the community,” Nigel said.

Otago Fish & Game owned the only land available for a practical solution and offered it to be used for the upgrade, which was a heavy compromise by the organisation, he said.

The proposal would divert stormwater from the Alpha Series development site, through Fish & Game land, and discharge it to a soakage wetland in the Wānaka A&P Showground. When the soakage overflowed, it would discharge to Middle Creek and into Lake Wānaka. This would divert most stormwater away from Bullock Creek’s sensitive headwaters.

Read more: Bullock Creek stormwater plan in place - but concerns raised

“We reached an agreement on the QLDC’s consent for the stormwater upgrade in good faith to address a significant environmental issue. A single line in the annual plan disrupts this momentum.

“Environmental issues imposed by the development on Bullock Creek and residents should not be subject to another seven years of inaction.”     

The proposed deferral has been blamed on the council’s liability in historic leaky home cases in Queenstown. QLDC has spent at least $40M in the past financial year defending weathertightness claims, much of which relates to apartments developed in the late 2000s.

FOBC’s submission to the QLDC said the deferral would effectively trade off past generation’s liability for seven more years of stormwater contamination in Roys Bay.

Read more: Capex deferral will lead to further lake contamination - FOBC

Fish & Game said flooding issues from the subdivision were well documented, and supplied an account of stormwater from the subdivision spilling into Bullock Creek Hatchery Springs more than a dozen times since 2015. 

Bullock Creek remained contained after last week’s rainfall. PHOTO: Wānaka App

In August 2022, Otago Regional Council issued the QLDC an abatement notice to cease discharge of stormwater resulting in flooding of Fish & Game land and a conspicuous change in colour and visual clarity of the water in Bullock Creek.

“Discharges were dumping sediment and heavy metals into the creek and changing the nature of its flows. All of this contamination flows into Lake Wānaka,” Fish & Game said.

The organisation disputed QLDC’s assertions that the runoff during heavy rainfall was no worse today than it was before the subdivision.

“Before the development, there is no memory from Fish & Game staff and councillors, past and present, of Bullock Creek flooding the Fish & Game land,” Nigel said.

He said while the annual plan included a commitment to Te Mana o te Wai (prioritising the health and wellbeing of water, including environmentally friendly storm and wastewater systems), it seemed QLDC had not considered the deferral against its own commitment to the environment, and had only accounted for financial concerns.

“Bullock Creek catchment deserves a state-of-the-art stormwater system to control overflow and not impact on Lake Wānaka,” Nigel said.

The submissions hearing on the 2023-2024 Annual Plan will take place today in the Armstrong Room of the Lake Wānaka Centre at 10am.

While the public is welcome to attend only those who pre-registered and have been allotted a time slot will be eligible to speak at the hearing.