The Matatā community will soon have the chance to hear the latest on the town’s long-running wastewater project, as the project team prepares ahead of lodging the resource consent in the coming months.
Nicholas Woodley, Manager Policy, Planning and Consents for Whakatāne District Council said the project had reached an important point, with a large amount of detailed work taking place over the last few months nearly finalised.
The preferred wastewater solution for Matatā was approved by councillors on 4 September 2025. The wastewater solution is a modular, land-based wastewater system at Tahi Hill Farm.
“This project has been a long journey for Matatā, and we know people want to understand where things are at and what comes next.” said Mr Woodley.
With all key elements of the project now confirmed, work has moved into the next stage of preparing the resource consent application. This includes working through the legal and technical requirements for the project.
“We’ve now completed a lot of the detailed technical and environmental work needed to support the resource consent process. This has included soil testing and the installation of eight bores at Tahi Hill Farm for ongoing environmental monitoring. That work is helping inform how the system is designed, how it will operate and how environmental effects can be appropriately managed.”
Site investigations have also helped build a better understanding of groundwater conditions and how the land-based system can be designed to suit the conditions at Tahi Hill Farm.
Mr Woodley noted that while this stage of the project may be less visible to the public, it is a critical part of getting the right long-term solution in place.
“Projects like this take time. There are long stretches of technical, cultural and environmental work that happen behind the scenes, but every step matters. The work completed to date is crucial to making sure we have everything needed when the time comes to lodge the resource consent."
A series of community drop-in sessions will be held across April and May, giving people the opportunity to hear what progress has been made, technical work that has been undertaken and what happens next as the project moves closer to consent lodgement.
The project has been developed through a co-design approach involving iwi, hapū and the Council, with a focus on identifying a solution that is environmentally responsible, culturally appropriate and fit for Matatā over the long term.
Dates and times for community drop-in sessions will be confirmed shortly.
More information about the Matatā Wastewater Project is available at whakatane.govt.nz/matata-wastewater