Cost to clean lake ‘prohibitive’
The water quality problems which surfaced on Cambridge’s Lake Te Ko¯ Utu over summer remain unresolved.
Stagnant water was blamed for dead fish and ducks appearing around the lake in February, sparking debate on what could be done to fix the problem at a recent Cambridge Community Board meeting. People heard there was no easy fix.
It was too costly to install an aerator, the Waikato Regional Council would not allow the lake to be dredged and a plan to flush surface water through the lake from a nearby development, to improve flow, had fallen over.
It was made clear by community board chairman Mike Pettit, Waipa mayor Jim Mylchreest and councillor Grahame Webber that the cost of cleansing the lake would currently be ‘‘prohibitive’’.
Cambridge resident Brian Dunstan, at the meeting, said the water quality of the lake had become a potential health hazard.
In 2016, at an open day at the Lakewood Cambridge residential development above the lake, it was promised the surface water from the development would be appropriately filtered before being discharged into the lake.
That could have increased the lake’s flow-through and its quality. But in March, a Lakewood spokesperson said the cost of that would be prohibitive.
‘‘Should the developers pay their fair share? I think that a contribution to cleaning up the lake would be a philanthropic act.’’
Pettit said he understood the original desire of the developers was to feed stormwater into the lake through the consent process, which didn’t happen. Mylchreest backed that up.
‘‘It sounded like a good idea, but because of the cost, obviously they’ve done their sums, and it’s more cost effective to dispose of it on-site, so they are covering their own infrastructure costs,’’ Pettit said.
‘‘The community’s already lost out on a lot of clean water com- pared to if they’d done as prior suggested and flushed the lake, but the resource consenting requirements made it prohibitive.’’
Dunstan said he thought the council had effectively saved the developers the trouble and cost of putting their hands in their pockets and doing something to benefit the community.
‘‘It was an economic decision, which is out of the council’s hands, to be fair,’’ Pettit said.
Webber said 10 years ago the council found there was only 1.5m of water in the lake.
He said the board and council discussed putting aerators in the lake, which would have improved the quality of the catchment for fish and ducks, reduced algae and fought bacteria.
But the Waikato Regional Council did not want to remove the sludge because it was full of heavy metals. It would cost more than $2 million to ‘‘do anything with it’’.
Pettit said it was a problem the council and board should speak to the community more about.
But there’s nothing more planned specifically for the Karapiro Rd turnoff.
NZ Transport Agency Regional System Manager Karen Boyt said the short-term proposals were relatively easy to install but could be the difference between life and death if someone made a mistake on the road.
Taupo¯ MP Louise Upston said the planning and acquisition phase of the Cambridge to Piarere was already underway.
‘‘It would be ridiculous for all of this work to be wasted if the government cans this project,’’ Upston said.
‘‘It beggars belief as to why the Government would cancel a project where road safety is the significant driver.’’
The draft Government Policy Statement on land transport currently undergoing public consultation sets out the government’s strategic direction and what projects will receive funding over the next 10 years.
NZ Transport Agency Director Regional Relationships, Parekawhia McLean, said until Government adopted its policy statement there could be no comment.
‘‘Once adopted NZTA will have greater certainty about what the final GPS is and will guide us to which projects we can invest in,’’ she said.