Waimakariri reply irks councillors

Press, 1 November 1977, Page 6

Waimakariri reply irks councillors

The Waimairi County Council’s works, reserves, and; traffic committee is dissatis--fied with a reply it has received from the Water Re-| sources Council on the clas-i sification of the Waimakariri.; and has recommended that the council take the matter! further with all speed. In October 1975 Waimairi! county requested that the! W.R.C. further consider a reclassification of the lower; reaches of the river so that; it would be suitable for swim-1 A reply received recently; from the W.R.C. said the re-; quest had been declined on five grounds: that there was; uncertainty over the future' basis of classification: the; practicability of achieving a higher classification; that a classification exists and re-> quires further work to attain

it: the uncertainty of drainage provisions by the Christchurch Drainage Board for the south side of the river: and the recommendations of the regional water board.

A letter was also received ifrom the member of Parlia-i ;ment for Rangiora (Mr D. F.j | Quigley), and it w'as sub-; |mitted to councillors last I evening for their information.' Mr Quigley said he was not satisfied with progress on I cleaning up the river, and had written to the Drainage ! Board asking when the I northern sewage treatment plant would be completed. ;how much it would cost, ; where the finance would come | from, and what was the pre- ; ferred outfall site. He also ; wanted to know if the river ;water, and that in Pegasus Bay, would meet the classifi- ’ cation once the plant was I working, and what was being [done to reduce pollution until [the plant started working. “If the answers I receive are not satisfactory I will ■ [consider requesting the Kaiapoi. Rangiora, Eyre, and Waimairi county councils to take proceedings jointly on behalf of their respective mayors, councillors, citizens, and ratepayers, against those

. responsible for the continued I pollution of the Waimakariri ißiver,” he said. < Cr A.- A. Adcock said the : reply from the W.R.C. was [“completely unacceptable to the Waimairi council and to other councils in the area, and furthermore there is no sense in their decision. We have said it before many times, that the classification of the river must be lifted before the northern sewage treatment plant is designed. It is the only possible time to look at a reclassification.” His remarks were taken up by all members of the committee. and they were unanimous that a deputation, with Mr Quigley, should meet the regional water board before the end of November. It will consist of Crs Adcock. I. Calvert, I. G. Clark. F. Chisholm, and M. P. Hobbv. Cr Calvert said the county was keen to have an aquatic playground in the area and itwas vital the river be upgraded to a C classification.