Tēnā koe,

Thank you for contacting us. Your request has been logged under the Local
Government Official Information and Meetings Act 1987.

We will respond to your request as soon as possible and in any case no
later than within 20 working days.  

You can also call us freephone 0800 932 463. Please quote Request No.
OIA251870 if you require any further information.

If you would like to notify us about anything further regarding this
matter, you can reply to this email.

Ngā mihi,

Whangarei District Council

 

--EmailIdentifier---eyJJSWQiOiI0ODgwYzkxYy04NjE3LTQ2YzItYTBlNi1mODg4YzFiNTBmYmQiLCJIIjoiISFIQUtVNkowM3FESTBXRFIyTC9uUklDIn0=---EmailIdentifier--

Kia ora Victor,

 

Thank you for your request dated October 31, 2025, regarding discharge of
sewage, whether treated or untreated into the Hātea River, under council
reference number OIA251870.

 

The current wording of your request is quite broad, and, in that sense, it
raises issues for us in terms of the significant staff time and resources
that would be required to retrieve, collate, and review the information
sought.  Please note that correspondence is not stored in a single
electronic file, this means that staff across the organisation will need
to manually search their email boxes.

 

For this reason, please consider how you can refine your request. Helpful
ways of doing this include specifying: 

 

o Limiting the time period for your request (e.g. within the last six
months)  

o Narrowing the context or providing a specific interest to you (Is
there something specific you would like to know/want answered)

o Identifying specific staff members or departments that you would like
to see correspondence from (if known).  

o Providing a specific property address (rather than a wider area or
multiple addresses) 

 

The Water Group of the Whangarei District Council provides a monthly Water
Operational Report to the Infrastructure Committee. These reports are
accessible through the Council’s [1]Agendas and Minutes page. This section
includes:

o Agendas and minutes from Council and Committee meetings
o Documents relevant to infrastructure and water group

 

The Northland Regional Council (NRC) maintains a comprehensive suite of
environmental data including the following:

o Monitoring
o Environmental data hub
o Research and Reports
o Land Air Water Aotearoa (LAWA)
o Visit [2]https://www.nrc.govt.nz/environment/

 

Refining your request can help avoid a charge being imposed under our fees
and charges schedule: [3]Official information fees and charges - Whangarei
District Council (wdc.govt.nz) or potentially a refusal of your request on
administrative grounds.    

 

We appreciate you’re understanding and look forward to your response.

 

 

Regards,

Georgina Ellis

Official Information Requests Team  

Whangarei District Council | Te Iwitahi | Private Bag 9023, Whangarei 0148
| [4]www.wdc.govt.nz

WDC Call Centre 09 430 4200

 

[5]WDC - Final email sig

 

 

EXTERNAL: This email originated from outside Whangarei District Council.
Do not click links or open attachments unless you recognise the sender and
know the content is safe.

 

Dear Whangarei District Council,

 

Pursuant to the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act
1987, I request all information held by the Whangārei District Council
relating to the discharge of sewage—whether treated or untreated—into the
Hātea River.

 

In particular, I request:

 

1. Copies of all current resource consents, discharge permits, or other
authorisations held by the Council that permit the discharge of treated or
untreated sewage, wastewater, or effluent into the Hātea River or any
tributary connected to it.

 

2. Any reports, investigations, or monitoring data from 2020 to the
present relating to the quality, composition, or environmental impact of
such discharges.

 

3. All documents, correspondence, or internal communications concerning
the large outflow pipe located adjacent to the Dockland 5 haul-out area,
which appears to discharge effluent into the Hātea River.

 

4. Any information identifying whether this outflow is authorised, its
purpose (e.g. stormwater, treated wastewater, emergency overflow), and any
associated consent conditions or monitoring results.

 

5. Details of any incidents, overflows, or non-compliance events
associated with this pipe or nearby infrastructure within the last five
years.

 

If any part of this request is refused, please specify the grounds for
refusal under section 17 of the Act and provide the name and position of
the person responsible for the decision. I am happy to receive the
information in electronic form.

 

Yours faithfully,

 

Victor Corbett

 

References

Visible links
1. https://www.wdc.govt.nz/Council/Council-...
2. https://www.nrc.govt.nz/environment/
3. https://www.wdc.govt.nz/Council/Council-...
4. Link to the Whangarei District Council's website.
http://www.wdc.govt.nz/

Dear Victor,

Thank you for you prompt reply, I have updated your request and asked the appropriate departments for relevant information.

Regards,

Georgie

-----Original Message-----
From: Victor Corbett <[FOI #32705 email]>
Sent: Thursday, 6 November 2025 3:02 pm
To: LGOIMA - official information requests <[email address]>
Subject: Re: OIA251870 - Refinement/clarification- Hatea River

EXTERNAL: This email originated from outside Whangarei District Council. Do not click links or open attachments unless you recognise the sender and know the content is safe.

Dear LGOIMA - official information requests,

Georgina,

Thank you for your response. I am happy to refine my request as follows:

Pursuant to the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act 1987, I now specifically request information held by the Whangârei District Council relating to the large outflow pipe located adjacent to the Dockland 5 haul-out area at 211 Port Road, Whangârei, which appears to discharge sewage into the Hâtea River.

The specific information should be, if WDC has knowledge of this outflow pipe, what it is discharging, how often, how much (volume), and consents in place (if any).

Yours sincerely,

Victor Corbett

-----Original Message-----

Kia ora Victor,

Thank you for your request dated October 31, 2025, regarding discharge of sewage, whether treated or untreated into the Hâtea River, under council reference number OIA251870.

The current wording of your request is quite broad, and, in that sense, it raises issues for us in terms of the significant staff time and resources that would be required to retrieve, collate, and review the information sought. Please note that correspondence is not stored in a single electronic file, this means that staff across the organisation will need to manually search their email boxes.

For this reason, please consider how you can refine your request. Helpful ways of doing this include specifying:

o Limiting the time period for your request (e.g. within the last six
months)

o Narrowing the context or providing a specific interest to you (Is there something specific you would like to know/want answered)

o Identifying specific staff members or departments that you would like to see correspondence from (if known).

o Providing a specific property address (rather than a wider area or multiple addresses)

The Water Group of the Whangarei District Council provides a monthly Water Operational Report to the Infrastructure Committee. These reports are accessible through the Council’s [1]Agendas and Minutes page. This section
includes:

o Agendas and minutes from Council and Committee meetings o Documents relevant to infrastructure and water group

The Northland Regional Council (NRC) maintains a comprehensive suite of environmental data including the following:

o Monitoring
o Environmental data hub
o Research and Reports
o Land Air Water Aotearoa (LAWA)
o Visit [2]https://www.nrc.govt.nz/environment/

Refining your request can help avoid a charge being imposed under our fees and charges schedule: [3]Official information fees and charges - Whangarei District Council (wdc.govt.nz) or potentially a refusal of your request on administrative grounds.

We appreciate you’re understanding and look forward to your response.

Regards,

Georgina Ellis

Official Information Requests Team

Whangarei District Council | Te Iwitahi | Private Bag 9023, Whangarei 0148 | [4]http://www.wdc.govt.nz/

WDC Call Centre 09 430 4200

[5]WDC - Final email sig

EXTERNAL: This email originated from outside Whangarei District Council.
Do not click links or open attachments unless you recognise the sender and know the content is safe.

Dear Whangarei District Council,

Pursuant to the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act 1987, I request all information held by the Whangârei District Council relating to the discharge of sewage—whether treated or untreated—into the Hâtea River.

In particular, I request:

1. Copies of all current resource consents, discharge permits, or other authorisations held by the Council that permit the discharge of treated or untreated sewage, wastewater, or effluent into the Hâtea River or any tributary connected to it.

2. Any reports, investigations, or monitoring data from 2020 to the present relating to the quality, composition, or environmental impact of such discharges.

3. All documents, correspondence, or internal communications concerning the large outflow pipe located adjacent to the Dockland 5 haul-out area, which appears to discharge effluent into the Hâtea River.

4. Any information identifying whether this outflow is authorised, its purpose (e.g. stormwater, treated wastewater, emergency overflow), and any associated consent conditions or monitoring results.

5. Details of any incidents, overflows, or non-compliance events associated with this pipe or nearby infrastructure within the last five years.

If any part of this request is refused, please specify the grounds for refusal under section 17 of the Act and provide the name and position of the person responsible for the decision. I am happy to receive the information in electronic form.

Yours faithfully,

Victor Corbett

References

Visible links
1. https://www.wdc.govt.nz/Council/Council-...
2. https://www.nrc.govt.nz/environment/
3. https://www.wdc.govt.nz/Council/Council-...
4. Link to the Whangarei District Council's website.
http://www.wdc.govt.nz/

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hide quoted sections

Tēnā koe Victor,

 

I refer to your original request of October 31, 2025 and your
clarification/refinement dated November 6,  2025 for Information about
“Sewage into the Hātea River ”. Your request was referred to council’s
Stormwater, Flooding and Coastal Department for consideration and answers
to the following questions:

 

o I now specifically request information held by the Whangārei District
Council relating to the large outflow pipe located adjacent to the
Dockland 5 haul-out area at 211 Port Road, Whangārei, which appears to
discharge sewage into the Hātea River.

The outlet pipe in this location is a stormwater pipe. Please see map
below (green lines).

 

 

o The specific information should be,

o what it is discharging, stormwater (rainwater) only
o how often, every time it rains
o how much (volume), volume would vary according to storm event
o and consents in place (if any). This stormwater outfall is within
the Port Catchment which does not have an active consent in
place. This is the case with many other stormwater discharge
points across the district, where the discharge is not deemed a
“permitted activity” according to the Regional Plan but Whangarei
District Council does not have a current consent for the
catchment. WDC is working with Northland Regional Council on a
stormwater network discharge consent for the 10 city catchments
where the Regional Plan has specified the need for consent. Below
is a map showing the location of the Port Catchment. Catchment
boundaries are the yellow lines.

 

 

The material represents our best efforts to locate relevant material.
However, the search process is by no means an exact science and given the
broad scope of your request it is possible that there may be other items
of relevance that have unintentionally been missed in the search.

 

I hope this information is of some assistance in responding to your
request. If you believe we have not responded appropriately to your
request, you have the right by way of complaint, under section 27(3) of
the Act, to apply to the Ombudsman to seek an investigation and review of
the decision.

Ngā mihi mahana,

Ravi Muwal (He/Him)

Manager – Stormwater, Flooding and Coastal

Whangarei District Council | Te Iwitahi, 9 Rust Avenue | Private Bag 9023,
Te Mai, Whangārei 0143

P 09 430 4200 | DDI 09 470 3193 | M 021 407 248   | [1]www.wdc.govt.nz

[2]Whangarei District Council logo

 

References

Visible links
1. Link to the Whangarei District Council's website.
https://www.wdc.govt.nz/