Court orders QLDC to pay $235,000 legal costs over sewage failures

In spite of claims from the Queenstown Lakes District Council that they ‘were going to fix the Shotover wastewater plant anyway’ the Environment Court has taken a different view and supported the Otago Regional Council in awarding $235,000 costs against the QLDC.

This amount is only a very small part of extra costs that the QLDC now faces in meeting a long list of actions now required by a court issued ORC Enforcement Order.

These costs are focussed on more water testing and a clear plan of action to train their contractors better, document how to run the plant and figure out how to replace the failed disposal field.

A series of affidavits from the ORC in support of the Enforcement Order painted a picture of QLDC and their contractors failing to act over a period of four years in relation to multiple failures at the Shotover Wastewater Plant.

This is the full text of the court’s decision relating to costs.