In the early 2000s a booming population spurred the council to plan a $42million combined Paihia-Kerikeri plant in the Waitangi Forest, until slower growth and the financial disaster of Mangawhai's sewerage scheme forced a rethink.
Following an attention-grabbing "Let's Talk Crap" consultation exercise in 2013 the council came up with a new and less-costly plan to extend its sewerage network to Riverview and remaining ares of the CBD.
Now the new council under Mayor John Carter has scaled the plan back again. Its preferred option is now to finish connecting CBD properties but to leave out Riverview, and to build a new plant of double the capacity at Shepherd Rd. Paihia's plant in Waitangi Forest, which is also failing to meet resource consent conditions, would get a separate upgrade.
The total cost is estimated to be $22.2million ($19million for Kerikeri and $3.2million for Paihia). Kerikeri households hooked up to or within 30m of the network would pay just over $1500 a year for the next 10 years ($1073 capital rate and $487 operating rate); and Paihia ratepayers would be billed just over $1100.
Other options the council is considering are to build the new Kerikeri plant in Waitangi Forest, which would push the bill up by $1.5million; or to build a combined Kerikeri-Paihia plant as originally planned, bumping the cost up to $25.5million. The latter option would cost each Kerikeri ratepayer slightly less but Paihia ratepayers more.
About 50 people turned up at a consultation meeting on April 1 in Kerikeri's Turner Centre where the discussion never moved beyond sewage. Concerns raised included the council's preference for building the new plant at Shepherd Rd and the kind of technology it was planning to employ.
Submissions on the 2015-25 long-term plan, which sets out how the council will spend ratepayer money for the next 10 years, close on April 23. Copies of the consultation document are available from council service centres, libraries, i-Sites and www.fndc.govt.nz Councillors will finalise the plan on June 25.
Other sources and storage wanted
In South Hokianga, where drought and water restrictions have become an almost annual occurrence, the Far North District Council is proposing to increase storage for Rawene's water supply and find a new source for the Opononi-Omapere supply.
It also wants to install treatment equipment at Omanaia, where residents risk illness from drinking untreated water. Currently the Opononi-Omapere scheme relies on the drought-prone Waiotemarama and Waiarohia Streams. The council plans to look for a groundwater source or, if it can't find a viable bore, take water from the lower Waimamaku River, but some Waimamaku residents, are staunchly opposed.
The council's proposal for Rawene involves pumping water from the Waima River and building a reservoir to store water from the Petaka Stream when flows are high.
All proposals would involve hefty rates rises. Water rates at Rawene-Omanaia would leap from $149 to $1309 a year for 10 years; water rates at Opononi-Omapere would go from $320 to $1287 a year over 10 years.
Council infrastructure manager Jacqui Robson said such increases might not be affordable for some, but the council would make no decisions until it had heard from the community.
