Consents continue to be processed under the Resource Management Act 1991 while the Planning Bill and Natural Environment Bill progress towards replacing it, with updates on changes to the consent system to follow.
Consents continue to be processed under the Resource Management Act 1991 while the Planning Bill and Natural Environment Bill progress towards replacing it, with updates on changes to the consent system to follow.
Queenstown Lakes District Council (QLDC) owns and operates the Shotover Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP), located on the Shotover River Delta near Queenstown.
They hold resource consents from ORC that cover a range of activities on site, including the discharge of treated wastewater. Otago Regional Council (ORC) monitors compliance with conditions of consents and processes any consent applications.
In January 2025, ORC sought enforcement orders from the Environment Court to address compliance issues at the treatment plant. This came after two abatement notices and 10 infringement notices were issued since early 2024, many over the discharge of treated wastewater to land on the Shotover Delta. These enforcement orders included upgrades to the plant and a new disposal field solution which required a consent application to be made for a new disposal system.
Separate to the above, following persistent performance issues at the disposal field on the Shotover Delta, in March 2025 QLDC began diverting wastewater to the Shotover River under the Emergency Works provisions of the Resource Management Act 1991 (RMA). In May 2025 QLDC applied for retrospective consent for this discharge. They then sought for this application to be handled by the Environment Court.
ORC’s mandate is to work with our communities to make sure our region’s natural resources are managed sustainably.
Our consents and compliance work has four aspects:
Processing consents: we use consents to manage activities so that any harm they may have on our communities, or the environment is reduced.
Monitoring compliance: we monitor activities to make sure they comply with consent conditions and permitted activity rules.
Responding to incidents: we respond to reports of environmental non-compliance and pollution incidents.
Undertaking enforcement action: we consider all available options to ensure compliance with the Resource Management Act 1991 (RMA), resource consents, our regional plans, and national regulations and standards.
In this case, ORC is the consenting authority, so it has requirements under the RMA to monitor consent compliance. ORC is not the wastewater treatment plant operator or owner.
For more information on the Shotover River/Kimiākau Wastewater Treatment Plant’s consents and compliance please see the following webpages:
Information about resource consent applications, including current and previous applications and related documents processed by ORC.
Information about ORC’s compliance monitoring, investigations, enforcement action and sampling results.
We rely on the public to let us know where and when you see pollution of air, waterways, land and the coastal marine area. Our pollution hotline is 0800 800 033. Or you can use our online form