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Lake Waipu Improvement and Rātana Pā Wastewater Treatment Project

Treated wastewater from Rātana Pā is currently being discharged from the treatment plant into an unnamed waterway that leads to Lake Waipu​. Lake Waipu has very high trophic levels, which shows that the lake and its fish and plants are in poor condition.

To improve the health and quality of Lake Waipu, Rangitīkei District Council is working with Horizons Regional Council and the Ministry for the Environment to construct a new pipeline that will remove treated wastewater from Lake Waipu and discharge it to a piece of land near Whangaehu beach area. Once the treated wastewater is removed, Horizons Regional Council is looking into a restoration plan for Lake Waipu, including tree planting and ongoing quality monitoring.

Part of the project is also to look into minor upgrades to the current wastewater treatment plant in Rātana Pā. RDC is working with specialists to design the irrigation system for the land. There is value within treated wastewater which can be used to provide important nutrients to plants even during the dryer times of the year.

This project is being funded by Rangitīkei District Council with some external funding from the Ministry for the Environment.

Rātana Pā Wastewater Project Update

21 February 2022

A Resource Consent application was lodged with Horizons Regional Council at the beginning of December 2022. Following this, we received a S92 letter from Horizons Regional Council requesting further technical analysis of the proposal including soil sampling and analysis. The resource consent application has now been lodged with the Rangitīkei District Council.

    30 November 2022

    The subdivision for the purchased land has been finalised in November 2022 and the resource consent application will be lodged with Horizons Regional Council in the first week of December. Once the consent has been approved and consent conditions are known we will be able to finalise the irrigation design and begin the construction phase of the project.