Community solution possible through Open Day

 

From the Mangawhai Community Waste Water Scheme Advisory Panel

The “Magical Mangawhai” brand and the Mangawhai Community Wastewater System have always been and will always be about the Harbour and its water quality.

We, the Mangawhai Community Wastewater Scheme Extension Project Advisory Panel have been looking at where to from here. We have been asking the questions and looking at the options. We have looked at things like:

* Should connection to the Scheme be optional or compulsory?

* Who should pay the costs of connecting and how should this be funded?

* Who should own and maintain what?

The Panel accept the original objective and desired social outcome of the 2003 Statement of Proposal around ‘improving the well-being of the estuary to allow the Mangawhai community and those other residents and tourists to the area to fully enjoy the environment that makes Mangawhai what it is’ is as valid today as it was in 2003.

Open Day scheduled
We are holding an Open Day on Saturday April 4 at the Domain in Mangawhai. We will be onsite between 10am and 4pm to meet with you and discuss the options we have identified. Come and meet with Panel members and talk with us. We are open to your feedback as we track towards a community solution.

If you own property in Mangawhai or are thinking of buying you will undoubtedly be affected either now or in the future by any decisions that are made.

People choose Mangawhai as the place to live and holiday because of the magic that is the Mangawhai Harbour. Safe swimming and boating pleasures in a picturesque, sheltered harbour – it doesn’t get much better than that. There is much to protect about Mangawhai.

Reflecting back on history, a Statement of Proposal prepared in 2003 outlining the problems that existed with water quality in the Harbour area noted:

The harbour and groundwater is polluted and has been since at least 1976 when the first surveys indicated unacceptable levels of human waste and other pollution sources… Survey results have consistently demonstrated faecal coliform and enterococci levels to be significantly above accepted guidelines.

It drew attention to public health and safety issues from swimming/playing within the estuary environs and concluded with a statement that ‘Doing nothing is no longer a viable option for Mangawhai.’

Harbour top priority
The prime objective was the need to improve the water quality in the estuary. It was recognised that this could only be achieved by eliminating flows from septic tanks and other systems from entering the groundwater and the estuary.

The Office of the Auditor General’s (OAG) report noted the decision to establish the Scheme was well-founded despite acknowledged failures in the process. It was and has always been about the Harbour and improving water quality – and it still is.

The Mangawhai Community Wastewater Scheme is established, operating and doing the job it was designed to do. It has spare capacity. The Office of the Auditor General’s report also noted that the Scheme was “operating effectively” and that “the treatment plant is big enough to cope with expected population growth.” To use the spare capacity of the treatment plant, more properties need to be connected and to achieve this, reticulation needs to be extended to these properties. The disposal system will also need to increase in capacity.

Because of the need to maintain the water quality of the Harbour, it was always expected that, over time, all properties in the Mangawhai drainage district would connect to the Scheme. This is the point we are at today. The Panel has approached the task of looking forward under four broad headings

1. Reticulation – where the pipes are currently and where they can extend to.

2. Treatment – the capacity of the treatment plant.

3. Disposal – what options are available and which ones are viable.

4. Funding – options for how growth and expansion is funded.

The public presentation at The Domain will allow you more understanding of these issues and invites your involvement by filling in forms on the day. We look forward to meeting with you on April 4.

* If you want to contact the Advisory Panel you can email the members on advisorypanel@kapara.govt.nz. Panel members from the community are: D’Arcy Quinn, Belinda Vernon, Dr Gordon Hosking, Darryl Reardon, Dr Ian Gordon and Peter Wethey.