{"id":1128,"date":"2025-09-05T06:00:30","date_gmt":"2025-09-04T18:00:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/daveforcouncil.nz\/?p=1128"},"modified":"2026-04-29T22:32:05","modified_gmt":"2026-04-29T10:32:05","slug":"article-wastewater-still-an-election-issue-for-matata","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/exposures.co.nz\/?p=1128","title":{"rendered":"Article: Wastewater still an election issue for Matat\u0101"},"content":{"rendered":"

Source<\/a> Diane McCarthy PDF<\/a><\/p>\n

\"OVERSEERS:

OVERSEERS: MC Rob Meharry and timekeeper Murray Orr at the Matat\u0101 Residents Association Meet the Candidates event.<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

The support amongst the Matat\u0101 community for a sewerage scheme was loud and clear at a Meet the Candidates event organised by Matat\u0101 Residents\u2019 Association.<\/p>\n

The Matat\u0101 Rugby Club was filled to capacity with Matat\u0101 locals and local government candidates from across the Eastern Bay. East Coast MP Dana Kirkpatrick was also in attendance at the meeting on Sunday.<\/p>\n

Residents’ association member Rod Meharry MCed the event, inviting six Whakat\u0101ne mayoral candidates, two Whakat\u0101ne District Council M\u0101ori ward candidates, eight regional council candidates and seven Rangitaiki Community Board candidates to introduce themselves.<\/p>\n

Mayoral candidate Philip Jacob\u2019s statement that he would not support the Matat\u0101 sewerage scheme that the Whakat\u0101ne council has recently purchased land to build had many in the room gasping.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt does not appear to be a public health issue. I am not aware of any current evidence of significant human waste contamination in the lagoon. That issue aside, I cannot support the Matat\u0101 sewerage scheme on pure financial grounds.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said Matat\u0101 couldn\u2019t afford to pay for the scheme, and it was an unfair burden for the rest of the district to pay for it on the Matat\u0101 residents\u2019 behalf.<\/p>\n

The comment prompted a question from the floor as to which mayoral candidates did support the scheme.<\/p>\n

Homes in Matat\u0101 are currently reliant on septic tanks which have been blamed for high levels of E.coli in the soil due to the high water table and poor drainage of the soil.<\/p>\n

A reticluated sewerage system has been on the town\u2019s wish list for decades.<\/p>\n

The questioner said she had attended a meeting in the rugby club some years ago where she was told by the Ministry of Health that unless Matat\u0101 got reticulated sewerage there would be houses that would have to evacuate.<\/p>\n

The Whakat\u0101ne District and Bay of Plenty Regional councils had subsequently worked out that it could be as many as 95 homes.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we are kicked out will you be pushing to have us compensated and if the project goes ahead will the costs be spread district-wide as we pay for many things in other areas?<\/p>\n

\u201cI see $14 million to do my sewerage is heaps less than approximately $70 million to boot us out of our houses.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr Meharry said Matat\u0101 residents were very concerned about what the council was going to do about their sewerage.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe asked three years ago and had a lot of promises. We asked three years before that and were told resource consent was just around the corner.<\/p>\n

Mayoral candidates Nandor Tanczos, Andrew Iles, Mark Ingram and Wilson James said they supported the Matat\u0101 wastewater scheme.<\/p>\n

Mr Tanzos said he supported equalisation of the cost across the whole district.<\/p>\n

\u201cI believe that as a district we have got to be in this together,\u201d Mr Tanczos said.<\/p>\n

Mr Iles agreed, adding that he felt the regional council should also be looking at sharing the costs of the project.<\/p>\n

Mr Ingram said the council needed to advocate for it strongly in Wellington and get central government to help fund it.<\/p>\n

Mr James said there were about 260 houses in Matat\u0101 and it should have happened a few years ago.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re working with iwi, we\u2019re working with hap\u016b, and progress is being made. It\u2019s slower than I would like but I would certainly be pushing for it to be completed.\u201d<\/p>\n

He also felt it should be paid for by the whole district.<\/p>\n

\"NO

NO CURRENT RISK: Mayor Victor Luca says it may not be necessary as monitoring of E.coli levels in Matat\u0101 show there is no current health risk<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

Mayor Victor Luca did not respond to the question, however, in a report he is submitting to the council\u2019s infrastructure and planning committee on Thursday, he states that all members of the Mayor\u2019s Taskforce For Water agree that contamination at the Matat\u0101 village is no longer serious.<\/p>\n

The taskforce is a group of engineering experts who volunteer their expertise to advise the council on water services. They have reviewed monitoring of surface and groundwater carried out by the council over two years.<\/p>\n

The committee will also decide whether to endorse the Matat\u0101 Wastewater Project moving to the next phase of consenting and development of a large-scale or moderate sized option.<\/p>\n

A third option is to allow the area to become a regional council managed Maintenance Zone, which could result in some homes in the township being unable to meet regulatory requirements for wastewater disposal.<\/p>\n

The current project has taken four years to reach this phase.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Source Diane McCarthy PDF<\/p>\n

OVERSEERS: MC Rob Meharry and timekeeper Murray Orr at the Matat\u0101 Residents Association Meet the Candidates event.<\/p>\n

The support amongst the Matat\u0101 community for a sewerage scheme was loud and clear at a Meet the Candidates event organised by Matat\u0101 Residents\u2019 Association.<\/p>\n

The Matat\u0101 Rugby Club was filled to . . . → Read More: Article: Wastewater still an election issue for Matat\u0101<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7410,"featured_media":407,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"episode_type":"audio","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"Article: Wastewater still an election issue for Matat\u0101. Homes in Matat\u0101 are currently reliant on septic tanks which have been blamed for high levels of E.coli in the soil due to the high water table and poor drainage of the soil.\r\n\r\nA reticluated sewerage system has been on the town\u2019s wish list for decades.","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[123,121,122,144],"tags":[148,151,154,147,136],"series":[],"class_list":["post-1128","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-dave-for-council-25","category-from-the-press","category-news-clippings","category-three-waters","tag-3-waters","tag-happy-cities","tag-wellbeing","tag-whakatane-election-2025","tag-whakatane-v-wellington","odd"],"episode_featured_image":"https:\/\/exposures.co.nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/57_plymouth_towcar_front.jpg","episode_player_image":"https:\/\/exposures.co.nz\/wp-content\/plugins\/seriously-simple-podcasting\/assets\/images\/no-album-art.png","download_link":"","player_link":"","audio_player":false,"episode_data":{"playerMode":"dark","subscribeUrls":{"apple_podcasts":{"key":"apple_podcasts","url":"","label":"Apple Podcasts","class":"apple_podcasts","icon":"apple-podcasts.png"},"stitcher":{"key":"stitcher","url":"","label":"Stitcher","class":"stitcher","icon":"stitcher.png"},"google_podcasts":{"key":"google_podcasts","url":"","label":"Google Podcasts","class":"google_podcasts","icon":"google-podcasts.png"},"spotify":{"key":"spotify","url":"","label":"Spotify","class":"spotify","icon":"spotify.png"}},"rssFeedUrl":"https:\/\/exposures.co.nz\/?feed=podcast&podcast_series=exposures-the-blog","embedCode":"

Article: Wastewater still an election issue for Matat\u0101<\/a><\/blockquote>