'We thought we had done the right thing' - former Bay mayor Peter Butler

Former Central Hawke's Bay mayor Peter Butler says a lot of research went into considering options for wastewater treatment upgrades at Waipukurau and Waipawa. Photo /File

Former Central Hawke's Bay mayor Peter Butler says it's disappointing that the floating wetland wastewater treatment systems at Waipukurau and Waipawa have failed to do the job as well as expected.

While he was mayor, the council opted to go with the system after receiving a lot of advice, options, and conducting research.

"We went to the South Island to investigate the worm farm option and we had all these people come to talk to us at council.

"We got glowing reports about the floating wetlands from Hunterville, which was using them, and they came with a guarantee."

He said the council saved ratepayers $6 million by choosing not to irrigate the effluent to Hawke's Bay Regional Council-owned land, but cost was not the only reason for that decision.

"There was an issue with putting the sewage on the hillsides as when there was a storm or heavy rain, it would have flowed down the hills and back into the river again."

Right up until he left office, he said he was under the impression the wetland treatment would work.

"The information we got from staff was that all was working well - there were only a few knobs that needed to be twitched.

"I keep going back to the day Mark [councillor Mark Williams] drank from the Waipawa plant.

"Even when I left and people asked me what was the highlight of my time I would say getting those systems right, because at that time it was looking good."

He said the decision was not based on the cheapest option, but the best one with the information available.

"We thought we had done the right thing."

He noted that previous councils had not addressed the issues with the plants, and that with increasingly stringent regulations, small townships like Ongaonga and Tikokino might be required to have sewerage systems, which would increase costs even further.

In regards to the latest review released last month, he said he hoped the current council would be able to rely on the expert advice given.