Jane JonesRUAPEHU MOUNTAIN CLUBS ASSOCIATION (INC.)
Address: 33 Newbury Street,
PALMERSTON NORTH
Phone 06 357 4126
Fax 06 357 4127
Secretary Treasurer: John Rockell
27 July 1998
To Member Clubs NEWSLETTER 14 PRESIDENT’S NOTES As I write this, the All Blacks have just been beaten by Australia and there is no snow. Things have got to get better!! This Newsletter covers three main topics: • Sewerage – Brian Anderson and Allan Thompson report on the latest news after a meeting of the Sewerage Group on July 10. They also comment on the stance being taken by Auckland Tramping Club which does not have the support of RMCA. • Club Membership – a brief update on progress to increase overall awareness of the advantages of Club membership and some suggestions that your Clubs may find useful (or may have already thought of). • An RMCA Questionnaire, which we mentioned earlier we would ask for to help us get our records up to date and to give RMCA some hard information to support discussions with DoC and others. At Pinnacle’s request, RMCA has now taken over administration of the Link IQP bulk purchase scheme for monthly inspections. This will now be administered by our Secretary John Rockell, and we have purchased some accounting software to help with this and RMCA’s general accounts. The change in administration coincides with the renewal of contracts with Link. Please get your new contracts in to John and Automatic Payment authorisations to your bank. You have the ability to negotiate fewer inspections with The Ruapehu District Council, but as we stated in an earlier newsletter, RMCA recommendation is to do the monthly inspections – this regime is all about proving you have taken all reasonable steps to protect users of your building. We can also negotiate with Link for the two IQP inspections per year that you will need under this alternative – contact John Rockell. Things have got to get better – keep smiling. At least the water tanks are full. Ross Campbell President 12 July, 1998 [This Newsletter has been unavoidably delayed and now, a fortnight later, the All Blacks have just been beaten again – by South Africa. And we are still waiting for the ski season to start at Ruapehu!! – JDR]
WHAKAPAPA IWIKAU SEWERAGE SCHEME The Tongariro National Park is a World Heritage Park with unique features including several streams that are completely nutrient free and abundant in flora that grow in such an environment. This is being threatened by, amongst other things, effluent discharge from Lodges, Ruapehu Alpine Lifts, the Chateau and other Park users. The Department of Conservation gave notice to clubs in 1992 that they wished to change this situation and proposed to reticulate the sewage to a point outside the Park where it could be treated and disposed of in a conventional manner. The Manawatu-Whanganui Regional Council supported the initiative and has refrained from pursuing its rights under the Resource Management Act in relation to enforcement of effluent discharge consents for Lodges and other users. In 1993, all clubs agreed in principle with the Department’s proposals and since then have continued to support the scheme and the reasons for it. In 1993/1994 a feasibility study for a scheme achieving the desired principles was prepared by Royds Consulting; their estimate at the time for the capital cost of the preferred option was in the region of $40,000 for each club. In 1995 the Ruapehu District Council offered to undertake the construction and ownership of the scheme, having the pre-requisite experience in the construction and management of infra-structure, and having the ability to: