The Final Straight

 

From the Mangawhai Community Waste Water Scheme Advisory Panel

The MCWWS Advisory Panel is on what Chairman D’Arcy Quinn refers to as the ‘final straight’.

“We have gathered a lot of good, quality information that we now need to sort through. This is taking time bearing in mind that the members of the Advisory Panel are volunteers and each have lives of their own.”

The Advisory Panel is aiming to complete its draft recommendations document during June. Once finalised, presentation of this report will then form part of the July Council Meeting Agenda.

Members of the Panel and the Mangawhai Golf Club staff recently visit the Pauanui Golf Club. Pauanui has a sewerage treatment plant approximately five times the size of Mangawhai and like Mangawhai is a coastal community. The visiting group were told that initially there had been some concerns in the Pauanui community about the Pauanui sewerage and wastewater treatment system but that these had disappeared as the scheme proved itself to be efficient, providing a win-win outcome.

The Pauanui Golf Course uses the treated wastewater from the Pauanui Sewerage Scheme to spray irrigate its greens and tees. The bulk of the treated water is disposed of using sub-surface irrigation of Kennedy Park, which is a recreational park in central Pauanui, plus Council gardens and the Pauanui airstrip.

The group’s visit was arranged by Parklands Irrigation who are a leading supplier of equipment and services for turf care and irrigation in both commercial and residential applications throughout New Zealand and the Pacific. The Panel members came away with good information.

“It is a system we will look more closely at if we make the recommendation to Council that treated wastewater from the Mangawhai Community Wastewater Scheme be used to irrigate the Mangawhai Golf Course fairways and support the natural wetland areas that occur there,” said Mr Quinn.

Harrison Grierson presented its draft report to a meeting of the Advisory Panel held last week. Mr Quinn said more detail was asked for.

“The Panel require more detail in some areas and have asked Harrison Grierson to provide this before bringing their final report back to the Advisory Panel.”

The Panel has enjoyed being able to approach many of their personal professional contacts with a wealth of knowledge, experience and qualifications in respect of wastewater schemes around New Zealand. These people have given the Panel considerable free advice and direction on where to find appropriate information to support their recommendations.

The Mangawhai Community Wastewater Scheme Advisory Panel will take a break from providing editorials for a couple of weeks. Its members will now gather the last pieces of the information they need and begin the involved task of pulling the strands together in a report to Council.

n Contact the Advisory Panel on advisorypanel@kapara.govt.nz. Panel members from the community are D’Arcy Quinn, Belinda Vernon, Dr Gordon Hosking, Darryl Reardon, Dr Ian Greenwood and Peter Wethey.