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Anyone planning to build a home on the Hibiscus Coast, who does not already have a building consent, will not be able to get a wastewater connection for seven years.
This was announced by Auckland Council’s water infrastructure arm Watercare last week, as it takes steps to slow down building on the Coast until its wastewater infrastructure can catch up.
Watercare chief strategy and planning officer Priyan Perera says the Army Bay treatment plant, which treats wastewater from Ōrewa, Silverdale, Wainui and the Whangapaāoa Peninsula, only has capacity to take around another 4000 new home connections. An upgrade is planned, but this is not expected to be finished until 2031.
“The Hibiscus Coast has been growing rapidly, and in the past few years, Watercare has connected about 800 new homes a year,” Perera says.
“We believe the number of resource consents already granted outnumbers the remaining capacity at the treatment plant.”
He says that if growth continues at current high rates, the existing treatment plant may reach capacity before the upgrade takes effect
As of last Friday (November 15), anyone who applies for a resource consent for a new home or business on the Coast will have a condition on their consent that says they won’t be able to connect to the public wastewater network until the Army Bay plant has capacity.
Watercare plans to spend $500 million on wastewater infrastructure on the Hibiscus Coast over the next 10 years.
Perera is asking developers who already have resource consent, but who don’t yet have building consent, to contact Watercare about their connection.
“We’ll be assessing these applications to connect on a case-by-case basis as we keep a close eye on the plant’s capacity.”
Watercare is also exploring options for delivering an alternative upgrade faster but did not elaborate.
The Army Bay plant discharges around 12,000 cubic metres a day into the Tiritiri Matangi channel, off the Whangaparāoa Peninsula. It is one of four major wastewater treatment plants in Auckland, the other three are Māngere, Rosedale, and Pukekohe.
Anyone with questions about their development plans is invited to email connections@water.co.nz
