The High Court battle and the Shotover sewage failure
Ngāi Tahu is taking the Crown to court over South Island water quality - and a new disposal field collapse looks imminent.
We discover an imminent collapse in the QLDC’s illegal disposal field wall (main image above - December 20th).
The discharge of partially treated effluent has continued into the Kawarau River 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
New ORC data shows a non-consented e coli reading in a flooded Shotover recreation area.
A 2020 Ngāi Tahu water quality court case reaches the High Court in just two months time. The Shotover situation is likely to be highly relevant to that legal battle.
As we discover more about the Shotover sewage plant failure an intriguing new angle has emerged - a landmark High Court case scheduled for February 10th in Christchurch that may force all water agencies to do things differently in future.
The Shotover plant was designed and built with two key iwi requirements in mind: the effluent must be discharged to land (not water) and be gravity fed (not pressure fed.) These requirements are so fundamental that all NZ wastewater facilities are now being specified as using a discharge to land method.
In just a matter of weeks a Ngāi Tahu claim will be heard in the High Court. Here’s what the claim involves:
“In 2020 Ngāi Tahu lodged a statement of claim in the High Court seeking recognition of its rangatiratanga over the freshwater in the Ngāi Tahu takiwā (area). The statement of claim is to address the ongoing degradation of awa (rivers) and moana (lakes) caused by environmental mismanagement.
“Since the arrival of European settlers, Ngāi Tahu rangatiratanga over freshwater has been consistently challenged. When it came to negotiating the Ngāi Tahu Settlement, water was “off the table” and thought to be too difficult to deal with at the time. Successive governments’ mismanagement of freshwater has led to widespread degradation of waterbodies in the takiwā.
“Ngāi Tahu rangatiratanga over freshwater is the unfinished business of our generation.
“The case goes to trial in the Christchurch High Court on 10 February 2025. The case is scheduled to take ten weeks, with a three week break over Easter.
“The claim has been brought by 15 of our upoko, kaumātua, rangatira, and Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu. The claim seeks recognition of Ngāi Tahu legal entitlements to wai māori and that the Crown should partner with Ngāi Tahu to co-design and operate a new system to govern wai māori to improve the management of our lakes, rivers, streams and aquifers for benefit of everyone.”
Source: Te Kura Taka Pini (TKTP) - Ngāi Tahu Freshwater Strategy.
The upcoming court case may explain why there has been little public concern raised by Ngāi Tahu concerning the Shotover sewage situation as it may become very important to the legal arguments to be heard in the High Court.
It certainly is not an obvious shining example of modern, effective wastewater management by the operator (QLDC) or the regulator (ORC).
This article that was published by the Spinoff in 2020 provides excellent background to what the court case means and why its important. “Enough is enough Why Ngāi Tahu is suing the Crown over its waterways.”
And still - the problem gets worse.
On a visit to the Shotover disposal field today we noticed that part of the illegal earth bank seems close to collapse. This would be at least the third recorded collapse of the structure. See the main image above taken at 10.00 am this morning, Friday December 20th.
It was at a similar collapse at the disposal field that the ORC recorded an almost off the scale e coli reading on February 21 this year - 2,500,000 CFU’s per 100 millilitres. This reading is important as the material in the disposal field is not designed to be anywhere near that level of low treatment - the consent limit (prior to discharge) is 260 CFU’s. Auckland beaches get closed at 550 CFU’s.
A second collapse of the earth bank was recorded by the ORC on March 3, 2024.
New data from the ORC shows that effluent flowing from the disposal field has been tested at 390 CFU’s in early December - 130 CFU’s above the consented level.
A wide shot of the developing breach on the disposal field taken today - December 20th.
QLDC continues to refuse all Crux questions about the plant operations. No fix is known to be in progress or even possible.
Watch: Ngāi Tahu’s video statement explaining their High Court action over freshwater.
I hope Ngai Tahu succeed in their claim. At the same time, I question their commitment to saving and protecting the environment. They have a large holding of Outstanding Natural Landscape on the west bank of the Wakatipu north of Greenstone on which they maintain livestock continuing its historical ruination. Evidently, the money speaks louder than principles there. The property next door is a delightful contrast: the enlightened foreign owner having converted it entirely to natural rewilding. What is the state of the run-off from Ngai Tahu's holding straight into the Wakatipu?