Early results from Masterton's yet to be commissioned new sewage treatment ponds at Homebush show they are working great with district council officers charged with overseeing them describing results so far as "all good news".
The $35 million project is now 70 per cent operational and unexpectedly kind winter weather has allowed construction of the final 30 per cent to get under way ahead of time.
Masterton District Council's assets manager David Hopman has reported to councillors that at this early stage "all treatment parameters are well within compliance limits". These include the quality of average discharges of e-coli, phosphorous and ammoniacal nitrogen.
Mr Hopman said testing has started on the border strip irrigation system, with full commissioning scheduled for October or November. He added that there has been "no budget surprises" and expenditure to date is within budget.
