DCC says landfill discharge compliant

THE Dunedin City Council said yesterday its Green Island wastewater treatment plant was compliant with all discharge quality limits.

Its response followed reports of bloody water and globs of animal fat rushing from Dunedin sewers into the Green Island wastewater treatment plant last year.

Opposition parties and environmental groups put pressure on the Government yesterday to urgently amend the law so companies caught dumping contaminated waste water down the drain can be fined.

Data RNZ obtained from 68 city and district councils showed at least 270 companies breached their conditions.

Not a single one was prosecuted last year.

Earlier yesterday, council senior compliance officer Frank van Betuw described the noncompliant trade waste discharge into the treatment plant to RNZ .

It came from a rendering factory nearby, Mr van Betuw said.

‘‘It’s been happening for many, many years,’’ he said.

However, council three waters group manager Tom Dyer said noncompliant trade waste discharges did not necessarily cause noncompliant discharges from a wastewater treatment plant.

The Green Island plant had been fully compliant for three years, Mr Dyer said.

The Tahuna wastewater treatment plant had only had minor instances of noncompliance.

The council had five other smaller treatment plants, but those did not receive significant trade waste discharges and had no issues that could be attributed to trade waste.

The council’s wastewater treatment operators noticed potential problems and isolated any poorquality discharges which could damage the treatment process, he said.

When the council received a poorquality discharge, it carried out additional monitoring in the environment and provided results to the Otago Regional Council and affected parties.

If the council knew where the discharge was likely from, staff would investigate the issue and educate the discharger.

If it could prove where the discharge was from, the council would then recover costs incurred, Mr Dyer said.

Councils have been pleading with successive governments for the past 18 years to fix a loophole in the law to allow them to issue fines.

The Local Government Act 2002 gave councils the power to issue fines, but a drafting error in the law meant the regulations allowing it could not be written.

While they can prosecute breaches in court, in reality it has never been done because it is too costly.

Forest & Bird spokesman Tom Kay said amending the Local Government Act had to be a top priority for the Government so companies that breached consents could be held to account.

‘‘And it’s a really simple fix. ‘‘The minister needs to make it a priority to address that as soon as possible.

‘‘We understand there is a draft Bill out there that can be picked up and progressed really rapidly to plug that hole in the Local Government Act,’’ Mr Kay said.

Greenpeace spokeswoman Jessica Desmond said the large number of big brands found to have multiple breaches was concerning.

‘‘A lot of them are very wellknown New Zealand companies, a lot of them spend a lot of time and money telling the public how sustainable they are,’’ Ms Desmond said.

National Party local government spokesman Christopher Luxon said it was ‘‘common sense’’ to amend the law to allow fines to be issued.

Green Party three waters spokeswoman Eugenie Sage would also be lobbying her Labour colleagues for change.

‘‘It’s really not good enough that a loophole in the Local Government Act that these companies rely on to escape financial sanction has been known about for nearly two decades,’’ Act New Zealand local government spokesman Simon Court said.

Local Government Minister Nanaia Mahuta was not available for an interview, but in a statement agreed there was a lack of regulation and investment in waste water infrastructure.

The new water service regulator, Taumata Arowai, would be looking at the ways waste water treatment was regulated, she said.

However, that new body will not tackle waste water for at least the next two years. — additional reporting RNZ

❛ Businesses that regularly breach their consents are expecting the environment to soak up their pollution while other responsible businesses are paying the full

cost of treatment