The Upper Clutha is well placed to manage its wastewater, despite ongoing problems with one of Queenstown Lakes District Council’s (QLDC) wastewater systems, the Shotover Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP), deputy mayor Quentin Smith says.

QLDC is responsible for providing the reticulation and treatment of wastewater on behalf of its residents and ratepayers, before returning the water to the environment. 

The Shotover WWTP, located in Frankton, has attracted attention in media recently for persistent ponding within the field, along with periodic spillover of treated water beyond the designated site.

Quentin told the Wānaka App the Upper Clutha’s Project Pure wastewater system, however, “generally performs well”.

“The system is not the same as that used at Shotover. Last year we completed a third Project Pure reactor and we have plenty of appropriate land available for disposal,” he said.

Deputy mayor Quentin Smith: “Ratepayers just can’t continue to pick up the bill”.

Quentin noted that the council is “investing heavily” in wastewater upgrades.

Read more: Bigger than Ben Hur: Multi-million dollar wastewater upgrades on the books

“We are reasonably well-placed to service wastewater without causing the issues [Queenstown is] experiencing.”

But the wider point is that Queenstown’s wastewater woes highlight QLDC is “going down the road of massive infrastructure deficit”, including in the Upper Clutha, he said.

“We are under serious pressure and heading towards some big challenges.”

He pointed to the Albert Town Bridge, which is “leading to a doubling of the wait times there and no real answer to the replacement”, as well as Lake Hāwea Special Housing Area Longview having its wastewater trucked to Project Pure each week.

The completion of the project to join Lake Hāwea to Project Pure “is at least three years away”, Quentin said.

Roading is “another big one”, he added. “We’re heading towards really bad congested roads that have no solutions. Are we going to accept that or think about how we provide public transport?”

“We can’t continue to charge on with insufficient infrastructure, we need to get real about pressures. It’s not sufficient to just look at roads etc - we need to be keeping up with libraries, sports fields and other things our community wants.”

Quentin said QLDC needs to take “a serious look” at its development contribution policy (the financial charge levied on new developments) to ensure that “growth is paying for growth”, as well as get “some serious support from central government”. 

“Ratepayers just can’t continue to pick up the bill.”

The first full meeting of QLDC will take place next month, on Thursday February 13.

PHOTOS: Wānaka App