Project Rosedale: resource consents and consultation

See also:

Rosedale Wastewater Treatment Plant new outfall

Resource consents

The North Shore Drainage Act 1951 gave the North Shore Drainage Board authority to build, operate and maintain the treatment plant and outfall. 

In accordance with the Resource Management Act of 1991, North Shore City Council had 10 years in which to apply for resource consents for the continued operation.

In July 1998 we began the process of gaining the necessary consents. The process, Project Rosedale, involved gaining designations for the site, the route of the proposed new outfall and the odour buffer around the treatment plant site.

The statues relevant to the consent application at the time included:

• Resource Management Act 1991
• New Zealand Coastal Policy Statement
• Auckland Regional Policy Statement
• Proposed Auckland Regional Plan: Coastal
• Proposed Auckland Regional Plan: Sediment Control
• North Shore Transitional District Plan (Takapuna and East Coast Bays)
• North Shore City Proposed District Plan

Project Rosedale

Project Rosedale was the name given to the process designed to obtain new consents under the Resource Management Act to continue to operate the wastewater treatment plant at Rosedale, to dispose of treated effluent and gas.

Following extensive community consultation, we applied for resource consents to continue vital works and operations at the plant and to allow reuse and discharge of treated effluent.

1. The basis of the consent applications were to:
2. Retain the treatment plant and oxidation ponds at the current Rosedale site.
3. Operate the ponds in future more as a lake than the traditional oxidation ponds
4. Continue to reduce odours.
5. Produce a high quality treated effluent, including UV disinfection or equivalent by December 2003.
6. Construct a new long outfall between 2004 and 2010.

At the same time an application was made to the North Shore City Council to have the treatment plant site designated in the District Plan for wastewater treatment purposes. There are areas of land adjoining the treatment plant in council ownership such as parks, roads and reserves. After consultation with the Auckland Regional Council, an odour buffer designation was placed over the adjoining land where North Shore City Council already owned the land. This would effectively increase the odour buffer to an area greater that just the treatment plant site. 

Wastewater treatment plant - odour stream

Copies of the consent applications, notice of requirement, assessment of effects on the environment and support documents are available at all North Shore City libraries. Copies are also available at the Wastewater Treatment Plant and the Auckland Regional Council. 

Community consultation

Extensive community consultation was undertaken as there are environment considerations and large costs involved in operating and improving the wastewater treatment plant.

The community was consulted in several ways:

• Council worked closely with the Project Rosedale working party.
• Public meetings were held to give the community an opportunity to be heard.
• An open day at the treatment plant was held where more than 300 people attended.
• Council met with interest groups.
• A feedback form was delivered to all North Shore ratepayers.

312 submissions were received by October 21, 1999 (seven days after the closing date for Project Rosedale submissions) on the preferred timing of a new treatment plant outfall, the quality of effluent, and further measures for treating wastewater. The responses are outlined below.

Preferred timing of new long treatment plant outfall
By 2006 or sooner	83%
By 2004 (included above)	21%
Defer to 2010	2%
No new outfall	3%

NOTE: Some respondents expressed more than one opinion.

Quality of effluent

Seventy-seven per cent of respondents supported higher quality effluent using UV disinfection or an equivalent.

Further measures preferred in treatment of wastewater:

NOTE: Some respondents expressed more than one opinion.

Effluent reuse

As part of the proposed Project Rosedale scheme, consents were applied for to irrigate treated effluent on the treatment plant site and carry out an irrigation trial on the adjacent Rosedale Park. Council liaised with two golf clubs with a view to using treated effluent instead of potable water for golf course irrigation and are also investigating other options.

The total quantity of treated effluent that can be reused in this way is a small percentage of the total produced in North Shore City. For much of the year, reuse by irrigation is not feasible in our city because the ground becomes waterlogged. Even though the reuse of effluent in appropriate ways will be done, there is a need to continue discharging treated effluent to sea for the foreseeable future.

Odour buffer

The application for consent to discharge to air was based on there being no objectionable odour outside the odour boundary. The odour boundary includes the treatment plant site, parks and roads.

We seek to meet the no objectionable odour requirement at the treatment plant boundary but included the other areas to provide some factor of safety.

Project Rosedale consent process

In April 2001 the Auckland Regional Council (ARC) approved resource consent applications for upgrading and the ongoing operation of our wastewater treatment plant at Rosedale. North Shore City Council accepted most of the conditions.

Over a period of 2½ years the Council, the Auckland Regional Council and number of objectors worked through the issues. Compromises need to be made and while the objective might have been for the Council to obtain the longest possible duration of 35 years for all of the consents, this has not been possible in all cases. To avoid delays during the appeal process, approvals were sought to allow upgrading works to proceed.

Consent conditions

The appeals were settled in 2002 and the consents and their duration are shown below. The conditions pertaining to each of the consent can be viewed at the Rosedale Wastewater treatment Plant and at the Auckland Regional Council.

Project Rosedale: midge consultation

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