Following an accidental wastewater release on the incoming tide Lisa Thomson is encouraging community members to call her directly if they see it happening again.
Wastewater discharge On Wednesday and Thursday, treated wastewater was discharged into the harbour during the incoming tide. The discharge was initially spotted by residents, as it was being pumped from the outlet next to the toilet block on Riria Kereopa Memorial Drive.
Lisa says the discharges are “incredibly disappointing” and were due to a programming error in the operating system at the Raglan Wastewater Treatment Plant.
“Unfortunately, this resulted in the tide times being inverted, which meant that the discharge was on the incoming tide rather than the outgoing tide … and because the system believed it was operating as expected, no alarms were triggered to highlight that issue.” Equally unfortunate was that, although council staff shut the plant down, the manual intervention didn’t work and another discharge went out into the next incoming tide.
Lisa is now asking questions about how this happened and why residents seemed to experience difficulties in getting through to the council’s 0800 number to report it. She encourages the community to contact her on 021 179 8256 if they see or are concerned about issues like this.
Mayoral awards Raglan community members Angeline Greensill, Margaret Dillon and Kevin Holmes received awards at the Waikato District Council Mayoral Awards held at the council’s Ng ā ruaw ā hia office on 6 October 2023. Thirty-two people received the awards, which recognise and celebrate those who dedicate significant amounts of time and energy to their community as volunteers.
Lisa says, “Seeing our Raglan people receiving the awards was really gratifying and it was a lovely evening.” Raglan swimming pools A fundraiser is proposed to enable the Raglan Area School pool to be resurfaced, hopefully making it usable again by next year.
Lisa says the school, and its parent teacher association and board of trustees are keen to hear from and work with anyone in the community who’d be keen to support that.
“The school has over 540 students who use the pool when it’s up and running, and it’s also used by the Raglan swimming club for lane swimming and lessons, in the mornings and the evenings, and by the surf life-saving club for training lifeguards, so it’s of wide benefit to our community, and we’re looking at revitalising that,” says Lisa.
Lisa advises that she and the community board are also meeting with representatives from the Rangitahi development to talk about a proposal to construct a fitness centre and pool on the peninsula, and what that might look like.
She acknowledges that there is a desire in the community for a community pool, but that it would come at a significant cost, requiring careful consideration of how it could be funded.
Sports facilities Interest in sport is growing in Raglan, and there is also talk coming from within the council about developing additional sports fields, and from the community about building a basketball centre.
Lisa says, “There’s a real passion in the community to have some form of cohesive sports management, which would also include the fields. The question is where would that be? Wainui Reserve? There’s lots to think about the cost implications of those initiatives and who would be responsible for them.” Raglan’s geography can make it difficult to find land developments of this type, and Lisa says we need be looking at where we can develop more areas for our sports and for other activities as well.
Erosion at Papahua Domain and fixing the Wi Neera walkway Erosion is accelerating at Papahua Domain, potentially worsened by the removal of the old footbridge in 2011, and residents, Ng ā ti Mahanga and the campground are all concerned as both the memorial to Te Awaitaia and important infrastructure are threatened. Lisa says the Waikato District Council is also concerned and she has discussed the issue with community members, including possible reinstatement options. However, as no costings of options has yet been done, the work is not included in the council’s long-term planning process, meaning the community will need to look at how it will be funded if we want the work to be done.
The work will also need resource consent, so is likely to be a slow process. However, the council will be doing work on the Wi Neera walkway between the jetty and the footbridge, widening the footpath and installing a safety railing, as well as upgrading its lighting and other infrastructure. The other side of the footbridge, between the footbridge and fire station also needs attention, but is more complex, so the council will be asking its engineers to look at what is required there.
Proposed plans for the walkway have been shared with the community board in the past and are available online.
Land-based sewage treatment plant plan For the past 4 years, Waikato District Council has been working on a plan to construct a land-based sewage treatment plan, discussions with landowners around a potential site are on going with nearby residents actively campaigning against the project.
Lisa also added that, “part of the challenges with land-based treatment is obviously the type of land, as you can’t just put it onto any soil in any paddock. The type of land required is quite specific and we have a high clay area density around Raglan.” “One of the options we’ve been looking at is around Maungatawhiri Road, but that’s private property, it’s not council land, so that adds to the complexity, working with prospective land owners on negotiating the use of that land, whether it’s a lease or buying or whatever it might be.” The council is also reinvestigating the option of locating the plant at Wainui Reserve.
Lisa advises that anyone who is interested or concerned is welcome to attend the planning meetings, which are held via Zoom. People can also ring Lisa or go on the Waikato District Council website.
“ All of the information is there. All of the Zoom meetings we’ve had online have been recorded and they’re there. All of the proposed options are there, all of the technical information is there,” says Lisa.
The recent hui included plans for where the proposed lines would run if the treated sewage was pumped to the Maungatawhiri Road to be dispersed. Issues still to be resolved include when the treated sewage could be dispersed, as weather events periodically soak the land, reducing its capacity to absorb the sewage, and where the sewage could be held or dispersed in the interim.
“It’s not easy and there’s lots of considerations to work through,” says Lisa. Three waters reform Lisa also pointed out that there’s not just sewage to be considered – there’s freshwater and and stormwater as well.
“These are significant costs, so the three waters reforms or some form of reform that takes that responsibility and the cost away from the ratepayer, really needs to happen, regardless of what government is in.” Lisa believes that local government needs to be strongly advocating for part of this responsibility to be taken up by central government, describing the costs involved as “eye watering”.
“We know what we need to do with the infrastructure. It’s just who’s going to pay for it and to what level … a gold standard or the best that we can get for what we have? This is all part of our long-term plan deliberations. You know, we might want X, but we can only pay for Y. We want all of these things that are good for our communities, but we need to get the basics right as well,” says Lisa. https://raglanradio.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/RCR-lisa-wwtp.png