Protesters are asking Queenstown’s Council to discard plans to unload the treated sewage on the Shotover river.
Photo: RNZ / TESS BRUNTON
Protesters pickets from a wastewater plant from Queenstown, as they asked the board to discard plans to unload the treated sewage in a local river.
Last week, District Queenstown Lakes counselors were informed at closed doors about the eviction of over 12,000 cubic meters of effluent treated on the Shotover river.
Counselor Nikki Gladding revealed the confidential plan, accusing the council of confidentiality.
The advice is confident of water quality will not be impacted.
The protest near the factory began hours before the board went to the public with the plan.
Its signs included ‘toot not to pollute’ and ‘save our rivers’, taking a cacophony of drivers’ horn.
Protesters aligned a Queenstown road on Wednesday morning
Photo: RNZ / TESS BRUNTON
A local resident said the advice should be ashamed of lack of transparency, as he only discovered the plan when the Whisteblower counselor spoke.
He said he wanted to see the counselors swim in Rio if they believed that effluent eviction would not affect the quality of the river.
The General Manager of the Property and Infrastructure of the District Council of Queenstown, Tony Avery, said that the effluent would be highly treated and that the board was confident that water quality would not be impacted.
“We will meet the bathing water standards beyond the mixture zone, which is a very standard measure.
“We are not talking about contaminating water.”
The protest moved to align the road that enters the wastewater treatment plant.
Photo: RNZ / TESS BRUNTON
Protesters moved to align the road that enters the wastewater treatment plant.
Protesters outside the plant sang “QLDC, we don’t need their secrecy.”
Photo: RNZ / TESS BRUNTON
A decision about the plan is expected within days.
