A "How to Guide" for Securing 35 Year Discharge Consents

Since reorganisation of local government in Auckland, Watercare Services Limited (Watercare) has successfully obtained resource consents for five long term (35 year) wastewater treatment plant discharge consents to freshwater and coastal receiving environments. Obtaining long-term consents is a key issue for wastewater operators who seek to achieve the level of certainty required to support significant investment in infrastructure. With a 35 year consent, a long-term view of investment can be made in the asset, which ultimately produces a better outcome for the customers, the facility owner and the environment.

In the majority of cases, Watercare has offered a consent condition that requires a 5-yearly monitoring and technology review report (MTRR) outlining significant technological changes and advances in relation to wastewater management, inflow reduction, treatment and reuse, and consideration of whether any option or combination of options represents the best practicable option (BPO).

The paper outlines the MTRR conditions contained in the consents that have been granted, and their relationship with other conditions such as those relating to community liaison groups and review of conditions. It explains how MTRR conditions have been used to address uncertainty, both from submitters and consent authorities, and particularly whether any given treatment technology or discharge method will remain the BPO over the duration of a long term consent.

The paper positions the MTRR approach in the wider context of Environment Court decisions concerning the use of similar technology review conditions, starting with the Moa Point wastewater treatment plant decision in 2009, and then considering three more recent decisions regarding municipal wastewater discharges in the Manawatu-Wanganui Region (Fielding, Shannon and Foxton wastewater discharges).

It concludes with observations about the role MTRR conditions and related conditions can play in securing long term consents for wastewater treatment plant discharge consents, and circumstances in which experience suggests such conditions may be insufficient to secure long-term consents.