Wastewater

Wastewater consents and compliance

Engineer consultants

You will need to engage a suitably qualified wastewater engineer consultant to aid you in lodging a consent application. Engineers can be found under ‘geotechnical engineers' in the Yellow Pages directory.

Your engineer should undertake a thorough investigation of the site which should include an assessment of the soil drainage properties, ground water levels and a recommendation of the most suitable treatment system for your particular situation.

Your consent application should include the following information:

• description of what is proposed
• site plan showing location of receiving environment features and wastewater system location
• floor plans of dwelling(s)
• details/specifications of wastewater treatment and disposal systems
• assessment of Environmental Effects (AEE)
• a completed application form.

Consent information

General information on the consent process, application forms and fees information is available by emailing: environment@arc.govt.nz

Consent conditions - your responsibilities

All resource consents are issued with conditions, with which the Consent Holder is required to comply. These conditions may require you to provide additional information, and the ARC will undertake compliance monitoring to ensure that the discharge is occurring in accordance with the consent.

Consent conditions may specify:

• the maximum discharge quantity and quality limits
• installation, operational, one-off and self-monitoring requirements.

You may need to provide to the ARC additional information, including "One-Off", Self Monitoring flow data and treated wastewater quality data.

"One off" Information

Holders of ARC discharge consents are required to provide one-off information, including:

• engineers certification of correct system installation or equivalent Producer Statement (e.g. PS4)
• copies of as-built plans
• maintenance contracts
• management and monitoring plans.

Self monitoring information

Holders of ARC discharge consents may be required to provide ongoing information, including:

• ongoing monitoring records of wastewater discharge flow volumes
• discharge quality sample analysis results
• receiving environment sample analysis results.

Treated wastewater quality monitoring information

Conditions often specify procedures for monitoring including sample location, sampling frequency, and analysis requirements. This data is used to:

• determine how well a system is operated and maintained
• determine trends in system performance and effects
• indicate when upgrade or maintenance actions are required.

Further information on compliance monitoring can be found in the ARC Fact sheet Wastewater Facts.

Commissioning and compliance inspections by the ARC

• The ARC undertakes compliance monitoring of all resource consents
• You will need to arrange a commissioning inspection with an ARC Officer within 30 days of your consent being issued. At this time you should provide any "One Off" documentation required by conditions of consent
• ARC Compliance Officers will conduct compliance inspections of wastewater treatment and disposal systems at regular intervals for the duration of the consent. The frequency of these visits is determined by the scale of the discharge, risk of failure and potential for adverse effects to the environment
• The ARC recovers the costs associated with undertaking compliance monitoring of consents. Costs, including charges for Officer's time, travel and materials, are charged to the Consent Holder on an actual and reasonable basis. Please refer to the schedule of fees for further information on consent costs and fees.