Wastewater rules flouted in schools
Two schools are among several sites in Kapiti and Wairarapa that have been put on notice to clean up their wastewater systems.
The warnings come after Greater Wellington Regional Council figures showed almost half of the sites it monitors breached their resource consents in relation to wastewater in the year to September 30.
Of those, seven - all on the Kapiti Coast or in Wairarapa - were found to be in ‘‘major’’ breach of their consents.
They were two schools, a residential subdivision, a camp and conference facility, a lodge, an apartment building and an agricultural centre. The council was unable to provide further details.
Wastewater includes discharges from toilets, sinks, baths, showers and hand basins.
Acting manager for environmental regulation Shaun Andrewartha said the council was cracking down on consent breaches. ‘‘There is room for improvement and that’s what we’re working towards.’’
Of the 51 sites monitored by the council, 25 were found to be flouting the rules, including the seven with major problems.
Under the Building Code, wastewater must be safely recycled or disposed of on site if it is not connected to a sewerage system. By continuing to breach their consents, the sites could do significant damage to the land where water was dumped, Andrewartha said.
‘‘The effects are in the minor category at the moment. But if they’re left unchanged, that [damage] could escalate.’’
The breaches ranged from poor maintenance to overuse of wastewater systems. Some of the seven biggest offenders had a his- tory of breaches.
In some cases, those breaches included up to three years of not providing, or late submission of, annual effluent quality reports.
‘‘They need to have a plan for improvement,’’ Andrewartha said. ‘‘Some have been issued abatement notices in the past and need to fit in with our compliance programme.’’
The sites will be subject to ongoing targeted inspections. Those with minor breaches will come under greater scrutiny if improvements are not made.
Last week, Environmental Defence Society senior researcher Dr Marie Brown criticised the lack of governance of environmental laws in New Zealand, saying the Environment Ministry had not allocated enough resources to governance and that there needed to be nationwide regulation.