Background
Rotorua's current plant has to date been the most successful initiative in reducing nitrogen going into Lake Rotorua. Our treatment plant is among the best in the country, treating wastewater to a very high standard. But it is in need of future-proofing to meet higher projected demand and to continue to reduce and maintain nutrient levels below the targets agreed under the Lakes Water Quality programme - (PDF, 11.4MB).
Discharging into Whakarewarewa Forest is no longer viable as a sustainable option for several reasons including cultural concerns. It is also resulting in ground over-saturation that's detrimental to trees, making it an unreliable filtering system and adding to pollutants entering the Puarenga Bay. A programme of work in in progress to identify an alternative discharge site.
An advisory group is to be formed so council can work directly with iwi, hapu, mana whenua and other important community stakeholders to explore discharge options from the Waste Water Treatment Plant.
The purpose of the advisory group is to help the council achieve a satisfactory and sustainable solution to the long-term discharge of the city’s recovered water.
Although the current plant treats water to an extremely high standard, the upgraded plant will significantly further improve the quality of the treated water. This will also include a higher level of nitrogen and phosphorus removal and full disinfection of bacteria such as E. Coli.
How is wastewater in the city is currently treated?
