Use of effluent advocated

Press, Volume CXV, Issue 33981, 23 October 1975, Page 18

Use of effluent advocated

The non-use of efflu-p lent from Christchurch J for nutrient is a scandalous waste of valuable material andh overseas funds, says ak report to the Canterbury; J Progress League from!, Mr D. H. Penney. I i Effluent from Christchurch:, represents about 2300 tons! of “good farm fertiliser” a(j year, worth $186,500. thej report says. Mr Penny is chairman ofi; a committee set up two'l months ago to investigate' the possibilities of returning]] I

;effluent from sewage-treat- ; ]ment works round Christ--'church to farmland for nutrient irrigation. . “If the enthusiasm that!, (the possibilities of the pro-! iject have met with, from (every 7 quarter, is any indi-i Ication of genera] opinion, it] imust come near top on a. priority list of local-body] and Government essential (works,” the report says. ■ To use the materia], between 20 and 40 million gallons of water would be required daily, it says. An area of about 30,000 acres of farm land, north of the Waimakariri River to the : Eyre River and 15 miles : nf had hppn

west of Belfast, had been iselected as suitable for a pilot scheme. There were many factors Ito be taken into account, the report says — the cost of [piping and nutrient strippers and operating costs as well as Health Department requirements for irrigating effluents.