Grapegrower disputes pollution ‘facts’ in case

A grapegrower has challenged the summary of facts for pollution charges in the Environment Court, saying he was not even in the country when neighbouring wells became contaminated with waste product grape marc.

Former Babich Wines viticulturist John Wayne Sowman was in China when people living near the Marlborough vineyard found sludge in their water after the 2016 grape harvest, the court heard on Friday.

An anonymous complaint to the Marlborough District Council had prompted the compliance team to charge both Sowman and Babich Wines with discharging grape marc where it could leach into waterways.

The grape marc pad was built at the Echelon Vineyard to store 100 tonnes of skins, seeds and stems left over each harvest, by an engineering firm with oversight from Sowman in 2014.

But nobody tested the pad before it was used, and the leachate seeped into three shallow groundwater bores, which provided drinking water to six households in the Waihopai Valley, southwest of Blenheim.

Neighbours told the council their water tasted foul, a rotten egg odour was wafting over their homes, and there was slime in their water tank.

The council’s tests showed unsafe levels of iron and manganese in the three bores, and one also had unsafe levels of arsenic.

Babich Wines was to remove all grape marc from the property by September 9, 2016. Drinking water was affected for about 12 months.

The company pleaded guilty to the charges, and was discharged without convictions in December after demonstrating ‘‘extraordinary remorse’’ by fixing the private wells, closing the pad and paying the council’s legal costs.

But Sowman challenged the council’s version of events at a disputed facts hearing at the Environment Court in Blenheim on Thursday and Friday, saying he was not the main person responsible for the grape marc pad at the time.

Council compliance officer Reuben Fergusson said he spoke with Sowman four times about the pad following the complaint in 2016, and Sowman had agreed to take steps to fix the situation.

Other staff members told him Sowman was in charge of the pad during harvest 2016, but did not give specific dates, Fergusson said.

He was also told that Sowman had left his brother in charge of the pad while he was overseas in China, he told the court.

Sowman’s lawyer Miriam Radich said Fergusson was making an assumption Sowman was in charge because he agreed to fix the pad.

‘‘He never deferred me to anyone else,’’ Fergusson said. ‘‘Why offer to fix a problem if he didn’t have any responsibility for it?’’

Babich Wines management became aware of the contamination in June, and David Bullivant, Babich’s viticulture manager, became the main contact with neighbours, the council, and the Nelson Marlborough District Health Board.

Radich said Sowman had accepted responsibility for his part in the pad leaking, but there was no evidence Sowman had ‘‘primary responsibility’’ for the pad between February and May 2016.

Judge John Hassan said it was important to know how much responsibility Sowman had for sentencing purposes, when considering whether Sowman could have done more about the leak.

He asked for closing submissions from the lawyers by the end of this week, and said he would then reserve his decision.