Whakapapa Ski Area and Village Sewerage Scheme Development By Warren Furner Programme Manager Community Services
The mountains of Tongariro National Park are sacred to the Maori, especially Ngati Tuwharetoa and Ngati Rangi who have lived at their feet for almost a thousand years. “This matter of tapu is important. We want to see people enjoy the mountain but we do not want it desecrated.” (Sir Hepi Te Heuheu, in Tongariro a Sacred Gift, Craig Potton; 1987). The most challenging task facing the managers of Tongariro National Park lies in establishing a level of use at which public access can be facilitated and commercial operations permitted within the park without compromising the ‘intrinsic worth’ or tapu of this precious landscape.
Waste Water Challenges Whakapapa and Iwikau villages are the two main sites of development and occupation within the Park, and as such they pose the greatest challenge of waste water and sewage disposal. Post-war development in the 1950s and 1960s saw the construction of numerous huts on the mountain – something which the park board of the day encouraged with a view to assisting development and interest in the ski field and promoting recreational use of the park. The Whakapapa Village sewage treatment plant is located north of the Chateau golf course. Built in the 1940’s, this plant has been upgraded over time to handle increasing numbers of people but in recent times has not met contemporary environmental or cultural requirements.
Above: Consultant Engineer Ian Smith oversees the placement of panels for the buffer tank on the Whakapapa Ski field . (Photo: Warren Furner)
At Whakapapa skifield and Iwikau village the sewage from the 48 club lodges and lower ski field facilities has been treated in approximately 50 separate (in a few cases combined) septic tanks with deep disposal soakage pits within the upper catchment of the Whakapapanui stream. There have been ongoing problems with the operation of these systems as well as difficulties of sludge removal from an alpine environment. Backflow of effluent has occurred leading to surface discharge and odour problems at the start of high-use periods. Disposal of human sewage on a sacred mountain is clearly unacceptable and considered culturally insensitive to iwi.
Investigation In 1990, the Department of Conservation began considering possible alternatives for the disposal of wastewater at Iwikau and Whakapapa Villages and established a Sewage Working Group with representatives from
Tongariro the annual
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