Sewage dump not an accident
Two motorhome owners who emptied their raw sewage over the tarmac outside a New Plymouth restaurant were less than a kilometre from an official disposal station, it has been revealed.
The elderly campers left their mess outside the Deluxe Diner, in Leach St, on Sunday, dumping at least a bucket’s worth of human excrement at the side of the building, to the shock of the staff.
There are about 19 dump stations in the wider Taranaki area, and the nearest one was 600m away at the Mobil service station. There are also free disposal sitesat the BP station on Powderham St and the AA testing centre in Bell Block, and several campgrounds also have dumping stations which can be used for a small fee.
Viv Griggs, the Taranaki chairperson for the New Zealand Motor Caravan Association, said she was only aware of what had been reported and had no personal knowledge of the incident at Deluxe Diner, but in her experience it was not something that could be done by accident.
‘‘The tanks are sealed and there’s no way that they leak. Unless they’ve done something really serious and damaged the vehicle itself, it has to be a personal decision.’’
The exact method depends on the vehicle, but it has to be manually operated, she said.
‘‘It’s not something you can knock a switch to do.’’
There was enough information out there about places to empty the holding tanks, but New Plymouth was still in need of a council-owned public dump station, she said.
However, illegal dumping was not overly common, she added.
‘‘Personally I have not been notified of any in New Plymouth.
Griggs said the council had approved funding of $65,000 some time ago to install a dump station on public land, but there was still nothing in place.
NPDC chief operating officer Kelvin Wright said in an emailed statement that the NZMCA had given a grant of $15,000 towards a dump station.
‘‘We have a preferred site for this and we’re working with the stakeholders in the site to get their approval.’’
Griggs said in towns where there are public dump stations – Stratford and Normanby both have one – people tend to spend money.
‘‘There are a lot of travelling people and there needs to be somewhere, after they have collected their waste in their separate tanks on their vehicle, where they can dump.’’
Chere Bailey, the owner of Deluxe Diner, said they still did not know who the culprits were but had received messages from those keeping an eye out.