Reference Material

New Zealand's Water Services Authority, Taumata Arowai, sought feedback on its proposed Wastewater Standards, which aim to establish clear regulatory expectations for wastewater management across the country.

The proposed standards focus on key consenting matters, including the discharge of treated wastewater to water or land, the application and use of biosolids, and the management of overflows and bypasses. These areas are critical to ensuring environmental sustainability, public health protection, and compliance with evolving regulatory frameworks.

Lowe Environmental Impact (LEI) has submitted our review of the proposed standards, assessing their potential implications, challenges, and opportunities.

LEI worked with Horowhenua District Council and research scientists from ESR and Canterbury University on an exciting project to improve water quality in the Waiwiri catchment.

The exotic pine plantation surrounding the “Pot” in Horowhenua’s Waiwiri catchment is spray irrigated with treated effluent from Levin’s wastewater treatment plant.

This project replaced 10ha of pine forest with manuka/kanuka and other native species to examine their ability to reduce contaminants entering the Waiwiri Stream.

Monitoring of groundwater was undertaken to quantify the benefits of the new system.

The Regional Biosolids Strategy - Lower North Island was a 3-year collaborative project involving ten lower North Island councils working in partnership to develop a regional specific biosolids strategy.

The strategy's focus was on the potential collective management of municipal wastewater treatment solids for beneficial use. It was led and co-ordinated by Lowe Environmental Impact (LEI) with contributions from Massey University and The Institute of Environmental Science and Research Ltd (ESR).

LEI assisted the NZ Land Treatment Collective to host an onsite wastewater workshop on 15 March 2016, prior to the LTC Conference in Gisborne. The focus of the workshop was to discuss progress being made in advancing onsite wastewater management issues in New Zealand.

Workshop proceedings are available below for download: