He aha te tino take o te hinonga? Why is this project important?
Dealing with wastewater at Tarawera via reticulation will have immediate impact on manageable nutrient loads and water quality.
Most homes at Tarawera currently rely on some form of septic tanks to manage their wastewater but these leach over time and are no longer acceptable or allowed under BOPRC rules (Plan Change 14 – OSET rules) aimed at improving the health of the lake.
Iwi and the community want to achieve improvement through implementing a suitable sewerage scheme to help enhance the mauri (life essence) of the lake for future generations.
Reticulation will reduce public health risks associated with poorly performing on-site treatment systems.
Removing potential sources of e-coli (such as septic tanks) is also important to maintain the bathing water quality of the lake.
If reticulation were not happening BOPRC OSET rules would apply and this would require an advanced on-site wastewater system with nutrient reduction on each property.
This is not physically possible for about 170 properties at Tarawera because of property size, slope and other practical on-site conditions.
The cost of a compliant OSET system is approximately $28,000 to install and ongoing consenting, operational, maintenance, repair and renewal costs would be the property owner’s responsibility.
