No more 'bandaid solutions': CHB council invests in Otane to Waipawa wastewater pipeline

Central Hawke's Bay District Council mayor Alex Walker said a new wastewater pipeline between Otane and Waipawa would make a big difference. Photo / File

The Central Hawke's Bay District Council will be starting work on a new wastewater pipe between Otane and Waipawa next month.

Stage one of the project, valued at $1.15m, will see a 3.2km section of new wastewater pipeline installed between the two towns. The first third of the pipeline will eventually transfer Otane's wastewater to Waipawa for treatment and discharge.

The change to the use of project funding was adopted by the council late last year, as an alternative to the planned upgrade works to the existing Otane Wastewater Treatment Plant.

"We are not prepared to invest in band aid solutions for this community," Central Hawke's Bay District Council chief executive Monique Davidson said.

"We need confidence when we invest we are making a long term sustainable solution that meets the test of durable infrastructure for best environmental outcomes," Davidson said.

"The Otane to Waipawa Wastewater Pipeline project will achieve better long term outcomes in improving the treatment of Otane's wastewater, by piping to a collective treatment site in Waipawa, rather than an isolated plant in Otane."

Mayor Alex Walker said the council was thinking long-term, financially and environmentally, with the project.

"We know how important it is to the community that the disposal of our wastewater stays out of our rivers," Walker said.

Commencement of the project is planned to start just a few months after the completion of Otane's new Alternate Drinking Water Supply, which was commissioned in December 2019 and connects the Waipawa and Otane drinking water networks via 5.2km of new pipeline.

"By procuring resources to install sections of wastewater pipe along the same route as the Otane Alternate Drinking Water Supply, Council has been afforded a significant saving of approximately $200,000 in site establishment, mobilisation and procurement costs," she said.

The Otane to Waipawa Wastewater Pipeline is an infrastructure project as part of #thebigwaterstory capital works programme.

The council's 2021-2031 Long Term Plan will consider wastewater projects including the next stages of the Otane to Waipawa Wastewater Pipeline, and will go to consultation with the community later this year.