The Purpose Of This Document

The purpose of the Preliminary Assessment of Environmental Effects is three fold;

• To provide information to enable the community to make informed decisions on their preferences for Christchurch City’s wastewater treatment and disposal.
• To enable Council to make a choice between wastewater disposal to the Avon-Heathcote Estuary and the Ocean.
• To ensure that all environmental issues required to be included in the Assessment of Environmental Effects for the disposal of the city’s wastewater are addressed.

Background

The Christchurch City Council operates a wastewater treatment and disposal system for the majority of the Christchurch City. In order that the system achieves the standards required to meet new resource consent requirements and the aspirations of the community the system of both treatment and disposal of the wastewater requires upgrading.

The Christchurch Wastewater Treatment Plant (CWTP) at Bromley, presently discharges to the Avon–Heathcote Estuary under a discharge consent authorised by the Resource Management Act (1991)(RMA). The consent will expire in October 2001, and before this the Christchurch City Council (CCC) will be required to apply for a new consent. Unlike the present consent, the new application will have to be made under the provisions of the RMA.

Developing the future treatment and disposal of the city’s wastewater has been ongoing for a number of years. In 1996 planning begun for the upgrading of the treatment facilities, in order to increase the capacity of the plant to meet 30 years of city growth, including industrial growth. This upgrade is presently underway and is expected to be completed by 2006.

Planning and consultation in relation to a new discharge consent application was initiated in 1996, with;

• the establishment of a Working Party to advise and recommend on issues, options and possible solutions to the City’s wastewater treatment and disposal solutions,
• general consultation with the public,
• the production of an issues and options document which addressed all the issues and potential treatment and disposal options available and provided a short list of the most likely solutions
• the undertaking of a wide range of investigations to address gaps in knowledge and aspects of the assessment of environmental effects.

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