REASONS FOR DECLINING CONSENT APPLICATION

Your Bay Your Say members and supporters declined the Porirua City Council application for re-consent for the Porirua Wastewater Treatment Plant for the following reasons:

1. POOR WATER QUALITY: Porirua has 4 times less flow than the Moa Point Wastewater Treatment Plant yet the applicants want 5 times more contamination than that plant. This is a higher level than water standards allow.
2. POOR TREATMENT PROCESS: The Porirua Wastewater Treatment Plant is old, needs replacing, and has a long history of poor quality discharge, with a highly visible slick or plume that floats into Titahi Bay.
3. POOR INVESTMENT:  Upgrades continue to be deferred, future promises are not guaranteed or trusted.
4. POOR DATA: Population forecast numbers are significantly under-estimated showing 120,000 for 2043 when the figure will be more likely over 140,000.
5. POOR MONITORING:  Bypass discharge monitoring will stop in 2023.
6. POOR SAMPLING:  There will be no sampling for bypasses after 2023.
7. POOR ANALYSIS: Sampling before 2023 has been taken 24 hours AFTER a bypass has occurred. With two tidal flows happening in this timeframe test results are likely to have been diluted minimising the impact.
8. POOR PROCESS: Proposed Ecological, Monitoring and Technical reviews do not recognise the Treaty of Waitangi cultural impact and stricter assessment requirements.
9. POOR REPORTS: Independent reviewers say application and proposed conditions in some areas are mis-leading, ambiguous and lack sufficient data and policies to validate some statements and assumptions made.
10. EXCESSIVE COST: Cost of the consent to date is $1.7million, will continue to rise, and Council can change the consent after 12 months of the start date.