Council agrees on wastewater inquiry parameters

Published on 04 July 2016

4 July 2016

Mayor Annette Main says the Whanganui District Council today agreed on the parameters for an independent inquiry into the failure of the wastewater treatment plant.

“While we had already decided to proceed with an inquiry, we needed to agree on the purpose and detail of what the investigation should cover,” Mayor Main said.

“In the interests of transparency, we held a workshop that was open to the public so the community could hear our discussions and understand the scope of the inquiry.

“The Council and community need to understand the circumstances and Council processes which led to the failure of the old plant, from evaluation of the original concept to the acceptance of the need to commission a new plant. This inquiry is about the processes that were followed rather than technical details of the old plant which have already been thoroughly investigated and made public. It is also not concerned with the decision to build the new plant.

“The inquiry will be done by a completely independent person who has no previous connection to Whanganui or the Whanganui District Council or Horizons Regional Council. I expect that we will be able to announce the name of that person in the next day or so.”

The inquiry is scheduled to take 12 weeks from the time of appointment of the independent investigator.