A group set up to fight pollution in Whangarei Harbour wants an application by Whangarei District Council to treat more sewage declined until a long-term plan to stop the leaks is formulated.
The council has applied to the Northland Regional Council to vary its resource consent to allow the Kioreroa Rd sewage treatment plant to increase the amount of sewage it treats from 90,000 cubic metres a day to between 125,000 and 140,000cu m.
This would mean an increased volume of primary treated wastewater would be discharged into Limeburners Creek during extreme wet weather conditions over what is permitted at present.
The council says the upgrade will reduce the frequency of raw sewage overflows from the Okara Park Pumping station during heavy rain and will instead pump the raw sewage to the Kioreroa Waste Water Treatment Plant for processing.
But Save our Harbour (SOH) says the council's latest plan will not stop overflows fouling Whangarei Harbour and is urging the public to make submissions on the application.
"The first of this year's season of overflows has happened, even in these near-drought conditions.
"There were 45 overflows last year. On top of that, there was a large number of bypasses of the treatment plant last year, dumping sewage into the Upper Harbour," spokeswoman Louise Esse said.
"The Whangarei District Council has said that its upgrades of the system will reduce overflows to one in every five years. This defies belief."
SOH said the district council had provided no specific details of actions, or budgets, or timeframes beyond the next year or so.
The lobby group is calling on the regional council to decline the application until a more strategic approach is adopted by the district council or, it says, at the least, the district council must first be obliged to reduce volumes of incoming waste water.
Block sewage bid, say protesters
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