Waimate District Council staff have known for months about Oceania Dairy's 7.5km pipeline proposal, but some "flabbergasted" councillors were unaware until media reports on Monday.
Oceania Dairy, which is owned by the Inner Mongolia Yili Industrial Group Co Ltd, wants to build a 7.5 kilometre pipe to discharge up to 10 million litres of treated wastewater daily into the Pacific Ocean.
The factory is located in Glenavy on State Highway 1, about 58km south of Timaru.
At Tuesday's Waimate District Council meeting, Cr Sheila Paul, who lives in Glenavy, said her community only found out about Oceania Dairy's proposal after reading the Stuff article on Monday, and were "flabbergasted, taken by surprise".
"With all the talk about dairying, now there is a proposal to send wastewater off the coast into a marine reserve. Go figure," Paul said.
She suggested people take part in the submission process, as the consent application is currently lodged with Environment Canterbury (ECan).
Waimate deputy mayor Sharyn Cain asked where the council was placed in light of media coverage of the proposal.
However, Waimate District Council regulatory and compliance group manager Paul Cooper said Auckland consultants had visited "some months ago and at that point were engaging with locals".
"They were basically talking about what they want to achieve, it was a very high level conversation," Cooper said.
"We haven't had any further contact with them."
Cain said it was obviously going to attract "very high public interest".
Waimate District Council chief executive Stuart Duncan said: "The last thing we want to see is an ocean plume, a breach of discharge".
Mayor Craig Rowley declined to comment on the proposal, saying it needed to go through the submission process.
However, he said a consultant made him aware Oceania Dairy would be seeking an ocean outfall as part of the plant upgrade a few months ago.
The consultant was undertaking a preliminary impact report and asked who would likely be impacted, Rowley said.
"Our staff (WDC) would have been aware of it through the consent process."
Cr Miriam Morton said she was not aware of the proposed outfall until she read it in online in a Stuff article on Monday.
Te Runanga o Waihao chairwoman Jo McLean said Oceania Dairy had informed them of its intention to build the pipeline before the proposal went out to public consultation.
McLean said the runanga would oppose the proposed development.
"We have concerns about the impact this discharge will have on the greater environment," she said.
"The area is home to a number of endangered plant species that would be affected by this proposal."
Forest & Bird said part of the area proposed for the discharge includes the proposed South East Marine Protected Area, which could stretch from Timaru to Southland.
An Action Station petition has been launched against the proposal, asking ECan to decline "the waste pipeline for Oceania Dairy which would discharge millions of litres of wastewater into the ocean every day".
"Our wild oceans are places of beauty, the living spaces for countless animal species, and our places of recreation. The Pacific Ocean is not a dumping ground," the petition says.
By 4pm on Tuesday, it had received more than 730 signatures.
"yet another illustration of how industrial dairying is polluting our natural environment".
Action Station community campaigner Eliot Pryor said there had to be an alternative means for the company to get rid of the waste.
"With all the focus on the importance of our oceans, there's got to be a better way to the one they're proposing," Pryor said.
Greenpeace NZ agricultural issues spokesperson Gen Toop said Oceania Dairy's proposal was "yet another illustration of how industrial dairying is polluting our natural environment".
Oceania Dairy is seeking a 35-year consent for the discharge of treated wastewater, and to occupy the coastal marine area including an underground pipeline to three diffusers located approximately 300 metres offshore.
It is also seeking 10 year-consents for earthworks associated with the installation of a wastewater pipeline in road reserve land and to take groundwater for the purposes of site de-watering during construction of the pipeline.
Central South Island Fish and Game chief executive Jay Graybill said it was unlikely to submit on the proposal, as the majority of the ocean outfall did not occur within the freshwater areas which fell under the organisation's jurisdiction.
Oceania Dairy has been approached for comment.
Submissions on the proposal close on December 13.
