MP and mayor at risk over QLDC's refusal to detail "clean" sewage data

Analysis

Local MP Joseph Mooney and CODC mayor Tamah Alley have both put their reputations on the line to support, without question, the QLDC's release of "totally clean" sewage testing data from Monday March 31st - ignoring increasing evidence that the data has been either manipulated or misrepresented.

March 31st was the first day of the QLDC's "emergency powers" discharge into the Shotover River. The council's long standing claims that this would be "highly treated" effluent meant that there would inevitably be a very high degree of public scrutiny on water test results that day.

Crux carried out our own testing on March 31st that showed 570 cfu's per 100ml of e coli in the new Shotover discharge channel - around 100 metres from the UV building - the final sewage treatment stage. This was more than double the safe and consented level of 260 cfu's. Hardly totally clear effluent.

However the QLDC triumphantly released their own tests, from the same independent laboratory, claiming the water had the best possible water quality result - less than 10 cfu's. Virtually undetectable.

Crux has discovered a number of significant anomalies in the way QLDC tested the effluent - and an increasing refusal by the council to provide details about that testing and analysis process.

These anomalies are:

• The Veolia/QLDC test was carried out at midnight on March 31st - eight hours before the discharge started according to their lab paperwork.

• When questioned on this the QLDC comms team said that the test was actually taken at 9.00 am on the 31st - with the time being recorded on the water sample bottle label and not on the paperwork - for unexplained reasons. No image of the bottle label has been supplied.

• However, the lab paperwork, released by QLDC, shows the time the sample was received by the local laboratory office in Glenda Drive (the main testing is done in Invercargill) as being 8.30 am on Tuesday April 1st. That's almost 24 hours after the time QLDC says the sample was collected and 32 hours after the midnight time that is recorded on the official sample form.

• E coli tests need to be carried out in Invercargill within 24 hours of the sample being collected from a water source (with a courier delay of at least 3 - 4 hours) - so 8.30 am on April 1 (Queenstown lab receipt) does not allow a valid e coli test to be performed in Invercargill within the 24 hour limit - if 9.00 am Monday 31st is the “real” sample collection time, and especially if midnight on the 31st was the “real” collection time.

• QLDC have refused to disclose the exact location of their sample collection - this is as much as they will say: "For compliance purposes we test samples taken immediately downstream of the last treatment process within the plant, in this case the UV disinfection step."

• We have pushed hard on this point as, if the sample was taken inside the UV building, under the UV lights, then the e coli reading would be dramatically less than further downstream. E coli sterilisation depends on the effluent being clear (no solids) and the time/strength of the UV light. E coli can recover from UV light exposure further downstream.

• Today the QLDC, in refusing to give an exact location for their testing, turned our question (without our agreement) into an LGOIMA request that gives them 20 working days to answer, partially answer or refuse to answer the question.

We gained a rare insight into the internal processes of the QLDC when Tony Avery (Infrastructure General Manager) replied “all” to Crux’ request for further details when he presumably meant to only reply to CEO Mike Theelen, water boss Simon Mason and the council comms team.

We asked Mr Avery if we could publish his reply and he replied "do whatever you want to do."

From Tony Avery to QLDC’s Theelen, Mason and comms team:

"Goodness me! Newport now trying to discredit the testing that has been done.

"What level of detail do we need to get into with this? Simon – can Veolia provide a response?

And then, instead of getting a reply from Veolia about the sample testing time and date we get told by the council comms team that our questions will now be handled under LGOIMA rules. Worst case - 20 working days and potentially no new information at all due to "commercial sensitivity" or "free and frank confidential discussion between staff."

Veolia could have answered our questions, via QLDC, within 10 minutes in a simple phone call.

If the council's March 31st water sampling is scientifically strong and validated - why can't they provide that validation?

What happened in the “missing” 24 hours between collection and sample delivery to the Queenstown lab?

On the other hand they have effectively dismissed the Crux test sample as being somehow caused by unidentified dead animals or other biological hazards in a channel that's newly excavated and fenced off - just metres from the UV building.

• Back on the tools - Crux’ Peter Newport takes samples on April 7th just a couple of metres from the UV building outflow.

Yesterday (Monday April 7) we took five different samples at three different points along the channel - right next to the UV building (the QLDC's claimed sample site), 100 metres downstream into the channel and another 50 metres downstream near the Shotover River. We'll release these new samples later this week as soon as the results come back from Invercargill.

In the meantime the QLDC’s promised daily water test results are nowhere to be seen on their website.

Their historical test data from 2018 to 2025 is mysteriously free of consent breaches even in the months during 2024 when ORC investigators found e coli levels in the disposal field up to 9,000 times the safe, consented level.

Mayor Lewers continues to accuse Crux of spreading “misinformation and angst” in this mayoral opinion piece that has just been published by the Lakes Weekly Bulletin where Lewers says that he is presenting “The Facts” about the sewage crisis. We’ll leave you to read this and make up your own minds.

We are also checking initial indications that Tony Avery’s illegal $700,000 sewage wall has already been partially or totally demolished, strengthening our view that the real “emergency” was the imminent collapse of that wall.

If you want to put questions direct to the mayor - here’s his email address ([email protected] ) - please keep us copied if you’d like to - but we’d be interested in his replies either way.

Mr Mooney told Crux today:

“I won’t speculate on test results and suggest you continue seeking clarification from QLDC.

“You are also able to contact Otago Regional Council which is empowered to oversee the QLDC to ensure compliance with relevant resource consents.”

Mr Mooney published an awkward video interview with the QLDC's Simon Mason that he claims was "neutral" but was seen by the community as giving an unquestioning platform to the QLDC's point of view and questionable data. Mayor Tamah Alley congratulated Mr Mooney online for his work - suggesting this was somehow democracy in action.