Alexander (Sandy) Milne

We should keep a watchful eye on the Whakatane district councillors and other movers and shakers of the plan to spend $15 million dollars (sure to grow) to provide reticulated sewage for 260 houses in Matatā.  
I understand that the Government has fronted up with a $7 million contribution.

Around a quarter of New Zealand homes have septic tanks, which I believe cost around $500 every three-to-five years to pump out.

If ratepayers allow this scheme to go ahead, we will be gifting owners of every home in the Matatā village well over $50,000 for a service they do not need and probably would not get anywhere else in New Zealand.

Mayor Victor Luca seems to have been the only elected member of the council to question the need for this spend-up.  He questioned the result of the Environmental Monitoring Programme and also whether Matatā is a suitable place for densification, given the increasing debris flow risk and the fact that as a result of a debris flow a managed retreat was neccessary.

If Matatā has to grow, we probably need to decide what to do. Should all septic tank systems be brought up to standard or should we reticulate regardless of the huge cost?

With Dr Luca’s scientific background and experience, he studied the available data and determined the environmental situation was not as dire as portrayed.  He mobilised a highly qualified team –mostly experts in relevant engineering fields – who worked for free. He arranged for members of this Mayor's Taskforce For Water (MTFW) to check his conclusions,

He also consulted the New Zealand’s foremost expert in environmental microbiology and the leader of the peer-review team. These eminent experts commended Dr Luca for his presentation.

I was not surprised at a council meeting on September 4, that Dr Luca could not find a seconder for the motion to formally receive the report containing the feedback from the MTFW.  That was a slap in the face for our mayor and an insult to every member of the team he assembled to assist the council on this technical matter.

I would like to know how much more Dr Luca would need to do to inform and educate his councillors so that they could better serve residents and ratepayers.

Lastly, if there were health risks in Matata because of the existing wastewater situation, why aren't people getting sick?  Shouldn't we ask our medical officer of health for his opinion?