Works and Network Utilities - Utilities2
Discharge Quality
Improvements to waste water treatment plants (WWTP) has seen a steady increase in the level of discharge compliance throughout the district. Council commissioned a new $4.5 million WWTP for Te Aroha in December 2006 and the effluent discharge from this plant is fully compliant with the current discharge consent.
The Matamata and Morrinsville WWTPs were upgraded in 2009/10 and 2012/13, respectively, in order to comply with resource consent requirements. The Waharoa/Raungaiti sewerage scheme was completed in 2012/13, allowing nearly 200 septic tanks to be decommissioned. The WWTPs for Tahuna and Waihou were also updated in 2010/11 and 2011/12 respectively.
Compliance rates with resource consent conditions
| Year | Level of Compliance |
| 2007/2008 | Council complied 100% with water and stormwater resource consent conditions. 90.8% compliance was achieved with wastewater discharge consent conditions. |
| 2008/2009 | Council complied 100% with water resource consent conditions, 95% with stormwater resource consent conditions and 96% with wastewater discharge consent conditions. |
| 2009/2010 | Council complied 100% with water and storm water resource consent conditions and 94% for waste water. |
| 2010/2011 | High compliance with conditions. |
| 2011/12 | High compliance with conditions. |
| 2012/13 | High compliance with conditions. |
| 2013/14 | High compliance with conditions. |
| 2014/15 | High level of compliance except for two water and two wastewater sites |
| 2015/16 | Most Resource Consents have achieved a high level of compliance except two wastewater sites. Matamata and Te Aroha wastewater treatment plants are not compliant during specific times of the year. Council and the Waikato Regional Council (WRC) are working together to resolve this and Council may apply for a variation to the resource consents. Council is still awaiting the annual reports from the Regional Council for our water consents. |
| 2016/17 | All but two sites achieved compliance with resource consent conditions. The two non-compliances were both Matamata bores which exceeded their annual water take. |
| 2017/18 | Figures were unavailable at time of writing |
| 2018/19 | High compliance with conditions |
Stormwater
Information on the volume of stormwater discharged from Council reticulation is not monitored. Council does, however, monitor the quality of stormwater discharged as per conditions detailed in our discharge consents. Visual inspections of key stretches of open channel are carried out.
Other Network Utilities
Number of new network utilities granted resource consent
| Year | 09/10 | 10/11 | 11/12 | 12/13 | 13/14 | 14/15 | 15/16 | 16/17 | 17/18 | 18/19 |
| Number of new network utilities granted resource consent | 0 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
There were three new network utilities granted resource consent in 2013/14 for a substation and two telecommunications facilities. No network utilities were granted resource consent in 2014/15 or 2015/16. In 2016/17, a resource consent was granted for the upgrade of aircraft navigational infrastructure on the Kaimai Ranges. In 2018/19 there were no resource consents granted for new network utilities.
Reserves
As at 2018/19 there are 519.55 hectares of reserves under Council management.
What Council Is Doing
Council has spent a considerable amount of money on the maintenance and upgrading of urban services such as wastewater, water and stormwater. The community receives education material regarding water conservation through the fortnightly publication ‘Council in Focus’.
Amount of Council spending on upgrading & renewing urban services
| Year | 09/10 | 10/11 | 11/12 | 12/13 | 13/14 | 14/15 | 15/16 | 16/17 | 17/18 | 18/19 |
| ($000s) | 8,195 | 5,994 | 7,258 | 8,014 | 8,124 | 8,463 | 13,248 | 11,281 | 15,816 | 12,002 |
To help Council provide for increased demand and growth, development and financial contributions are collected by Council on all new developments and subdivisions.
Number and value of development and financial contributions collected per year
| Year | 08/09* | 09/10* | 10/11 | 11/12 | 12/13 | 13/14 | 14/15 | 15/16 | 16/17 | 17/18 | 18/19 |
| Number | 135 | 229 | 238 | 114 | 84 | 73 | 76 | 107 | 205 | 627 | 587 |
| Value (in $000) | 1,136 | 336 | 373 | 168 | 133 | 132 | 147 | 432 | 304 | 1,149 | 1,955 |
*Includes Network contributions and Parks and Reserves contributions
When these contributions were originally collected, the majority of them were for Council recreation reserves but in recent years the contributions have related more to services. Significant Development contributions were collected between 2009/10 and 2010/11 from the first stage of a development for 89 lots in Banks Road, Matamata.
Between 2011/12 and 2014/15 the amount of money received from contributions reduced significantly. This is primarily because there was less demand for residential sections as a result of the economic downturn. Consequently fewer 224 certificates (completion certificates) have been issued and fewer development and financial contributions have been received by Council. However, in the last three years both the number and value of contributions has climbed significantly when compared to the previous four years, in line with the growth in development in the district. The figures for 2018/19 are the highest recorded over the past 10 years.
