Brian Anderson The Western Front www.sunlive.co.nz

One of the main tasks for council is to deal with our sewage. This is hardly part of a job description considered by most councillors who are looking to be our leaders, but any council programme to improve our social, cultural, economic or health interests is wasted if the council cannot cope with our sewage.

The only time we get interested in the subject is when we find something is starting to smell, literally or in our rates. Last week, we discovered the part of rates calculated from our house valuations averages about $200 out of a $2500 rate bill, but the sewerage charge can be up to $1000 and is usually the most expensive item. Variation in sewerage charges is caused by the council system of targeted rates for different areas. The first sewerage systems went into operation in Hastings in 1951. Some Western Bay towns are still waiting to get rid of their septic tanks 60 years later. By delaying decisions and adopting short-term solutions, any rationalisation is looking less and less likely and the cost of servicing the operation is mounting. Every community has different problems.

Te Puke's system is in place. It was financed using a system of intergenerational funding where loans are allowed to have part of the interest capitalised, with population growth and cost of living rises, minimising the impact of the cost of the system on rates. Te Puke residents are not happy when they now hear council is thinking of making a uniform charge for sewerage across the Bay and they will be expected to pay again for everyone else.

The Katikati system is in place also. The council was able to pick up the old dairy company pipeline out to the sea, but the reticulation is not working properly. This was very evident this week with tankers having to transport sewage overflow from Katikati to Athenree. The overloading is caused by stormwater. The electricity bill for pumping sewage escalates as the pumps have to pump sewage and stormwater. Until the stormwater infiltration is sorted out, Katikati will continue to have problems.

Waihi Beach and Omokoroa's problems are in the financing of the relatively new systems which were set up like Te Puke, but the growth of population in these centres has not happened. Waihi Beach started with a debt of about $20m and the residents have already paid off about $20m. The original loan appears to have gone down, but there is a supplementary charge that brings the debt back over $22m and it is now expected to continue to rise up to 10 per cent per year.
Omokoroa's $35m bill has also been rising, but recently it was cut back to about $24m because ‘some spare money was found'. This must have been internal borrowing because the budgeted interest payment for the ratepayers of $1.2m went up to $2.1m. It is little wonder the community board chair has been asking for a universal sewerage charge across the whole Bay.

Katikati and Waihi Beach have system design problems with the effectiveness of the wetlands sections of their systems. Water has been measured coming out dirtier than when it went in. Maketu will have a system soon with the help of a grant from government, but Little Waihi is only a metre above high tide and the design of a system for them appears to be in the too-hard basket. Every Te Puna, Kauri, Tanners and Ongare Point property owner is expected to pay more than $10,000 per property for a new ‘state of the art' system to replace the septic tank, but the plan appears unworkable and the project is in limbo.

The seeming inequities in the targeted rates are actually poor planning. Sewerage systems have been built for people who haven't arrived at the expense of the maintenance of the current system. There has to be some sympathy for the current councillors who have inherited the debt and the problems, but the smell is mounting and as mothers know, keeping the lid down is only a cosmetic solution. We might be able to cross our fingers, but we can't cross our legs for the next 10 years.