Network Discharge Consents for Wellington - Key Challenges and Lessons Learned

Angela Penfold (Wellington Water), Richard Peterson (Stantec), and Ezekiel Hudspith (Dentons).

Community expectations and regulation are driving a need for significant investment in water infrastructure to improve environmental outcomes. Part of this is lifting the performance of wastewater and stormwater networks, including to improve the quality of discharged stormwater and reduce the frequency of wastewater network overflows. 

Wellington Water has applied for ‘global’ resource consents for stormwater discharges and wet weather wastewater overflow discharges across Wellington, Porirua, and Hutt Valley. These applications will set out a framework for long-term programmes of works to deliver improved outcomes over time.

For Wellington Water, this works programme is unusual in that it is being developed in response to the policy framework and consenting process, rather than starting the consenting process with a defined programme to improve levels of service already in mind. The regional RMA policy framework has also informed the way that the consenting process itself is structured, in terms of the grouping and sequencing of consents being sought (other frameworks may necessitate different approaches elsewhere).

This work will be driven by community and in particular mana whenua aspirations. Wellington Water is including formal structures in the proposed consent conditions to give effect to Mana Whakahaere and is creating space for mana whenua at each step in the process. Along the way, the work programme and particularly the sequencing of subcatchments will need to occur on a principled basis that is informed by the policy framework, rather than being solely driven by the most vocal communities or stakeholders, or by efficiency of delivery.

The consenting programme raises additional challenges from a planning perspective, including the need to at least ‘maintain’ all sub-catchments while sequencing ‘improvements’ elsewhere, and managing site specific effects on identified high value areas (including wetlands) in the context of a global consent application.

This exercise has also highlighted challenges with the legal and policy framework at a national level. Inconsistent approaches and restrictive national policies risk preventing consents from being obtained in the first place, rather than driving real-world improvements once consent is granted. A lack of specific guidance or standards for wastewater overflows or stormwater discharges means water service entities risk being ‘caught in the middle’ between the environmental and economic regulators. All stakeholders have high (possibly unrealistic) expectations of what the work programme will deliver. Finally, the Wellington Water applications have been progressed against the background of simultaneous Resource Management Act 1991 (RMA) and Water Services reform, and expected changes to the Wellington Regional Plan, creating uncertainty which has had to be actively managed as part of this consenting programme. 

This paper outlines the key features of the consenting programme, challenges and initial lessons from an operational/service provider, planning, and legal perspective.