Public meetings will be held over the next few weeks to discuss future wastewater treatment issues with residents in Western Bay’s small harbour-edge communities where new effluent disposal schemes are being investigated to replace existing septic tanks.

Western Bay of Plenty District Council has commissioned the Duffill Watts Consulting Group to investigate and identify constraints of managing wastewater discharges from Tuapiro Point; Tanners Point; Ongare Point; Te Kauri Village, Plummer’s Point (includes the residential areas along Plummers Point Road from Jess Road to Kotuku Reserve) and Te Puna West (includes the residential properties along Snodgrass Road just south of Park Road to Waitui Reserve).

Each of these communities is reliant on on-site septic tanks to treat household wastewater and because of the proximity to the harbour, pollution risks are high.

The clock is ticking especially for the communities of Tanners Point, Ongare Point and Te Puna West with Environment Bay of Plenty setting a deadline of 2010 for septic tanks to be replaced by advanced on-site effluent systems to eliminate proven contamination of the harbour.

Parallel to this, it is the intent of the Council’s current District Plan Review to discourage further residential intensification or expansion of those coastal communities. Not only is it enormously expensive to fully reticulate such areas for wastewater treatment but, once reticulated, the pressure is then on those communities to expand.

The public meetings planned in the coming weeks will update residents on the investigation into each proposed scheme and whether the schemes will be self-funding or Council assisted.

Meetings will be held for:

• Te Puna and Plummers Point, 14 May, 6.30-7.30pm at the Te Puna Community Complex, Tangitu Road, Te Puna
• Tanners Point, 15 May, 6.30-7.30pm, Katikati Memorial Hall.
• Ongare Point, 22 May 6.30-7.30pm, 1 Harbour View Road, Ongare Point.
• Kauri Point, 27 May 6.30 –7.30pm, Kauri Pt Packhouse, 364 Kauri Point Road.
• Tuapiro Point, 5 June, 6.30-7.30pm, The Point, 444 Tuapiro Road.