After years of opposition, the Fiordland community still appears to disapprove of where Te Anau’s treated wastewater will likely be disposed of in the future. Nonetheless, at a meeting this week residents from Te Anau and Manapouri pushed for the Southland District Council to at least consider a more discreet form of dispersal underground.

The Te Anau Wastewater Discharge Project Committee met on Tuesday (November 28) to finalise its recommendations to the Southland District Council on how, not where, the Southland District Council should disperse Te Anau's treated wastewater.

The committee ultimately preferred sub-surface irrigation, but not before hearing two hours of impassioned comments from Te Anau and Manapouri residents.

Fourteen of around 80 people in attendance addressed the public forum session. Almost all expressed disapproval of disposing of the wastewater at the Kepler block near the local airport, for reasons varying from environmental concerns, to Fiordland's image to tourists and aviation safety from a potential increase in birds to the dispersal site.

While the committee has said previously it had exhausted all alternative options to the Kepler block, many speakers said they felt the location was still inappropriate.

Manapouri Lakeview Motor Inn operator Dave Kelly said he wanted to see the wastewater treated better at the source in Te Anau before being disposed of. There were lots of signs of progress for Fiordland, including the growing tourist popularity of the Southern Scenic route, a new subdivision in m=Manapouri and the development of the cycle trail along the Waiau river. However the Kepler scheme was not one of them.

"This has to be one of the dumbest proposals happening in New Zealand," he said. The comment was received by applause from the crowd and a couple of "hear, hears".

Several people said the council was putting itself in a vulnerable legal position given safety concerns over an increased risk of bird strikes to aircraft at the nearby airport.

Te Anau Helicopter Services owner Jennie Burgess said she would rather push for sub-surface irrigation given concerns over bird strikes, and if there were more salts and contaminants in the air from the dispersal, that could corrode their aircraft, adding to their already high maintenance costs.

Fiordland Aero Maintenance owner Russell Baker, whose business operates out of the airport, said his staff had told him they would resign the day the wastewater was dispersed at the nearby Kepler block.

Community opposition group Fiordland Sewerage Options (FSO) has opposed the Kepler block site since the group's inception. However spokewoman Ruth Shaw said that since the decision had been made to go with the Kepler location, underground dispersal and a higher level of wastewater treatment was clearly the better option.

In a pamphlet handed out to the public, FSO said sub-surface drip irrigation didn't discharge pathogens to the air and had no odour since it was disposed of underground, among several other reasons as to why it was a preferable, albeit more expensive, option.

Of the four options listed in the business case in support of disposing treated wastewater at the Kepler block, the subsurface option was the most expensive at an estimated $21.8 million.

However Mrs Shaw said she believed the plan was unfairly biased against sub-surface and that $2 million could be taken off that total by removing small expenditures she believed were unnecessary.

In a letter written by Manapouri residents John and Sandra McKenzie addressed to Cr Ebel Kremer, which was read aloud at the forum, they said the benefits of subsurface drip irrigation outweighed the dollar factor for everyone.

Manapouri fishing guide Lawton Weber also said sub-surface was a "no-brainer." If the council went with sub-surface, the community would be with them for a change, he said.

After the public forum finished, many attendees stayed to speak with the committee and council staff. Most of the audience had left when the committee readjourned to discuss its recommendation to the Southland District Council.

In line with the communities' strong views, the wastewater committee agreed later that afternoon to recommend sub-surface irrigation over the consented centre-pivot option to the Southland District Council. After the public forum Cr Kremer spoke to the "absolute passion" demonstrated for the community, and committee member Rachel Cockburn told Advocate South it was a fantastic turnout with incredible preparation by the speakers.

The Southland District Council is expected to formally approve a path forward in support of the Kepler Block at its meeting on December 13.