course our very popular field

trip on Friday 31st March. Don’t

forget the social events –

twilight putting and BBQ at the

Hagley Golf Club and, our

Conference Dinner and awards

at Rydges Latimer.

Registrations are open via our

website and pouring in steadily

- it looks like we’re going to

have a great turnout this year.

- continued on next page.

NZLTC NEWSLETTER

Newsletter Date 09-03-2017

Issue 53 NZLTC Newsletter

Inside this issue:

Update from LTC Chair 1

Update from TM 1

Spotlight on… Impact of dung

beetle activity on soil quality

2

How the LTC can work harder for

you

4

LTC Conference Programme 5

Happy New Year to you all

from the Technical Committee,

The 2017 conference is fast

approaching and if you haven’t

registered please do so soon,

so you can join us in

Christchurch from 29th to 31st

March. The theme for this

year’s conference, Resilience

and Innovation, is so

appropriate for the City of

Christchurch as it continues to

transform itself following the

traumatic effects of the

February 2011 earthquake.

Organisation for the

conference is fully underway

and we can look forward to a

series of informative

presentations, the usual mix of

social events (and the usual

characters), and a great

selection of sites to visit on

Fridays field trip. Some well-

known LTC members are

residents of Christchurch so

there’ll be lots of local advice

on hand to help you make the

most of your stay.

As you’ll be aware, the process

of transitioning NZLTC to an

Incorporated Society is

underway. The forthcoming

AGM is going to be one of the

more significant in the history

of NZLTC and I encourage all

members attending the

conference to stay on after the

presentations and attend the

AGM on Wednesday at

4:30pm.

Myself and the Technical

Committee look forward to

seeing you in Christchurch.

Grant Northcott

Chairperson

Update from NZLTC Chair — Grant Northcott

Update from the Technical Manager — Alma Siggins

These are busy times for the

NZLTC – we are in the final

stages of the formalities in

establishing the Collective as

an Incorporated Society and

hope to be able to let you

know shortly that it has been

completed. This has been a

huge task but a very necessary

one and we are confident that

it will safeguard the NZLTC and

its members going forward.

Thank you to everyone who

attended our Special General

Meeting last November. The

feedback was very positive

and the vote to change the

Constitution and form an

Incorporated Society was

unanimous. It is encouraging

to have the full support of the

membership throughout this

process!

We have also been working

very hard to bring you an

exciting and varied programme

at the upcoming Conference in

Christchurch from 29th – 31st

March. We have two full days

of presentations, a number of

poster presentations and of

Impact of dung beetle activity on soil water quality

Landcare Research

“We would also

like to thank our

Sponsors for

supporting our

conference, and

indeed the

Collective, this

year. ”

Page 2 NZLTC Newsletter

Dung beetles (Fig. 1) are described as key ecosystem service providers. Because of

their ability to decrease pasture fouling, ERMA has granted permission to import

dung beetles for release into pasture systems in New Zealand. However, concerns

remain about the impact of dung beetle tunnels and dung burial on the leaching of

microbial pathogens through soil.

To assess the quality of water leaching from soil containing dung beetles, a trial

was conducted using intact core lysimeters from a volcanic soil (Fig. 2) under in situ

soil moisture and temperature regimes. Twelve replicate, intact lysimeter cores

were collected (Fig. 3). Dung was applied to 8 of the 12 lysimeters, 4 of which

received equal numbers of dung beetles Geotrupes spiniger and Onthophagus

taurus. The remaining 4 lysimeters served as controls.

Dung beetles and dung were applied to the lysimeters in April and leachates were

collected over the following 6 months for analysis of Escherichia coli, an indicator

of microbial pathogens derived from faecal material, as well as N and P.

Most of the dung deposited on soil cores was removed from the surface by dung

beetles within 22 days (Fig. 4).

Numbers of E. coli in the leachates were low, with all but 7 samples below

detection limits (<1 E. coli / 100 mL).

The total mass of N in leachate at each collection ranged from c. 0.000 – 1.590

kg/ha.

There was no significant difference between the control lysimeters and those

treated with dung (with or without dung beetles).

The total mass of P in the leachates at each collection ranged from c. 0.000 –

0.068 kg/ha.

There was no significant difference between the control lysimeters and those

treated with dung (with or without dung beetles).

Results refer only to the volcanic soil sampled and may be different for other soils.

Spotlight on

Research

Contacts

Malcolm McLeod, Jackie Aislabie,

Alexandra McGill, Philippa Rhodes,

Landcare Research, Private Bag

3127, Hamilton, 3240

Shaun Forgie

Dung beetle Innovations, 94 Pomona

Rd Kumeu, 0841

You may have noticed that we

have been able to significantly

reduce the registration costs

we are offering this year, hope-

fully even more of you will be

able to attend. We would also

like to thank our Sponsors for

supporting our conference, and

indeed the Collective, this year.

That’s all from me for now – I’m

looking forward to seeing many

of you in Christchurch!

Alma

Impact of dung beetle activity on soil water quality cont.

Fig 1: Dung beetles.

Fig 2: collecting the lysimeters.

— continued on next page.

Figure 3. Lysimeter facility for dung beetles

at Landcare Research Hamilton.

Each year the LTC has an

operating surplus – this is

primarily a carry-over from

previous years.

This extra revenue just sits in

the bank, although it is useful

to maintain a small amount of

surplus in case of

emergencies, we’d like to see

this money working harder for

you.

One of the reasons the LTC

was set up was to “provide its

members with the most recent

information on land treatment

technology, research and

information”. There are

several ways we could gain

value from the surplus to

further develop information on

land treatment in New

Zealand. We’d like to discuss

these at the AGM at the

conference in Christchurch so

ESR (TM and communications):

34 Kenepuru Drive, Porirua 502

Phone: 04 914 0689

Email TM: Alma.Siggins@esr.cri.nz

Email Comms: Sarah.Quaife@esr.cri.nz

LEI (finance management and

administration):

441 Church St, Palmerston North 4442

Phone: 06 359 3099

Email: Robyn@lei.co.nz

NZLTC CONTACTS (ESR & LEI)

Dedicated to improving and communicating

technology for the land treatment of waste

products

Find us on the web!

nzltc.wordpress.com

You can also contact us at: NZLTC@esr.cri.nz

Page 4 NZLTC Newsletter

How the LTC can work harder for you

Figure 4. Dung removal by dung

beetles after 22 days

Impact of dung beetle activity on soil water quality cont.

please have a think about it

and bring some ideas to the

AGM!

In the meantime below are

some suggestions for you to

mull over:

Supporting international

speakers attending the

annual LTC conference and/

or pre-conference workshops

Support research - e.g.

student stipend, contributing

to student project costs

Provide more/better

funded technical reviews

Conference Programme

The NZLTC would like to acknowledge the generous support of the following sponsors to

this year’s conference:

Silver Sponsors

Bronze Sponsors

Conference Award Sponsor

Northcott Research Consultants Ltd.

Social Evening BBQ Sponsor

Wednesday 29th March 2017

From 09:00

Registration and morning refreshments

10:20 Grant Northcott NZLTC Chairperson

Welcome and Opening Comments

Session 1: KEYNOTE SPEAKERS Chair: Grant Northcott

10:30 Mike Bourke Christchurch City Council

Resilience and Innovation of Christchurch Horizontal Infrastructure

11:00 Brett Robinson Lincoln University

The land treatment of municipal effluent using NZ native vegetation

11:30 Andrew Dakers EcoEng

Sustainable and effective on-site wastewater management services: A call for change from the septic tank culture

12:00 LUNCH

Session 2: Regulation Chair: Terry Long

13:00 Jack Feltham PDP

Land Treatment – operating in an era of tightening regulations

13:20 Nick Walmsley Water NZ

Updating the New Zealand Biosolids Guidelines

13:40 Sue Bennett MWH

Consenting wastewater discharges in limit setting environment

14:00 Jamie Ataria Cawthron Institute

Working on biowaste strategies for a sustainable learning village: understanding uptake of kaitiakitanga

14:20 AFTERNOON TEA

Session 3: Environmental Impacts Chair: Gerty Gielen

14:50 Megan Devane ESR

Shifts in the bacterial community of decomposing cowpats and their impacts on water quality monitoring

15:10 Malcolm McLeod Landcare Research

Impact of dung beetle activity on soil water quality

15:30 Cameron McIntyre Lincoln University

Irrigating with treated municipal effluent

15:50 Sue Walsh Fonterra

Human waste to land – a dairy industry perspective

16:10 Housekeeping and Closing Comments

16:30 Annual General Meeting 19:00 Social Evening: Hagley Golf Club

Thursday 30th March 2017

08:45 Alma Siggins NZLTC Technical Manager

Welcome and Housekeeping

Session 4: Emerging contaminants Chair: Rebecca Stott 08:50 Virginia Baker

ESR Challenges in managing emerging contaminants

09:10 Lisa Langer/Alan Leckie Scion

The choice of pump soaps for handwashing: Analysing New Zealand household preferences

09:30 Gerty Gielen Scion

Emerging contaminant leaching at catchment scale

09:50 Grant Northcott Northcott Research Consultants

Identification of priority emerging organic contaminants in treated wastewater

10:10 MORNING TEA Session 5: On-site Wastewater Treatment Chair: Sue Bennett 10:40 Noel Roberts

Water NZ Keeping up with new on-site wastewater technology

11:00 Bronwyn Humphries ESR

Optimising the use of coral beach sands for the treatment of on-site wastewater

11:20

Salma Rayan Innoflow

In the Matter of the Environment vs Septic Tank – the point of structural integrity and process proving

11:40 Poster Session 12:10 LUNCH Session 6: Plants and Land Treatment Chair: Grant Northcott 13:10 Jeff Brown

Fonterra Miscanthus (elephant grass) – Potential biofuel crop for land treatment systems that exhibits very low nitrogen leaching

13:30 Jianming Xue Scion

Sustainability of forestland application of biosolids – Rabbit Island case study

13:50 Maria Jesus Gutierrez Gines ESR

Mānuka dominated ecosystems to improve water quality

14:10 Jason Park NIWA

Treatment of biological trickling filter effluent using an enhanced wetland and pond system

14:30 Minakshi Mishra Lincoln University

Mānuka and kānuka to enhance pathogen die-off in biowastes amended soils

14:50 AFTERNOON TEA Session 7: Infrastructure & Strategy Chair: Brent Hawthorn 15:20 Lee Liaw

Christchurch City Council Biosolids Reuse past and present: A treatment plants perspective

15:40 Ian Ho Harrison Grierson

Every last drop counts

16:00 Leif Pigott Tasman District Council

Upgrade of Motueka Wastewater Treatment Plant

16:20 Rob Potts LEI

Kaikoura emergency response and recovery – how resilient is your wastewater system?

16:40 Jacqui Horswell ESR

Small community collective biosolids strategy – lower North Island

17:00 Housekeeping and Closing Comments 19:00 Conference Dinner: Rydges Latimer

Friday 31st March 2017

08:00 Buses depart Christchurch City Council 08:30 Pines Wastewater Treatment Plant

10:15 Aranui vacuum plant 11:10 Bromley Thermal Dryer

12:00 Lunch at ESR

13:30 Kaiapoi research field site 15:30 Airport or return to Christchurch City Council