Fencing infiltration basin a ‘no-brainer’
A Gore district councillor says the council is ‘’asking for trouble’’ by not fencing an infiltration basin it has installed in the town’s residential area, following the death of a toddler in the town five years ago.
A report from council 3 waters asset manager Matt Bayliss, which was tabled at a council assets and infrastructure meeting on Tuesday, said the council had fielded inquiries from concerned members of the public regarding fencing of the basin.
It has been installed on the corner of Elizabeth and Broughton streets and is designed to collect and hold rainfall that could overwhelm the town’s drainage systems. Bayliss told the meeting the council had sought legal advice and there was “no specific requirement for us to fence the basin’’, but that prompted Cr Andy Fraser to urge the council to fence it.
He said he understood the council was following the right process, but ‘’after what happened here a couple of years ago in relation to fencing, I would think it was a no-brainer that we did fence it in all reality, because I would think that from what I’ve read, you’re getting questions from people in Gore going ‘when are you or are you going to fence it’ and I think, to me, we’re just asking for trouble not to do it’’.
Yesterday morning, Fraser confirmed that he was talking about the death of 3-year-old Lachlan Jones, whose body was found in the council’s oxidation ponds in January 2019. In March 2023, the council pleaded guilty to an amended charge bought by WorkSafe relating to the fencing of its wastewater ponds after Lachlan was found dead in the ponds in 2019.
The council had complied with WorkSafe orders to fence the ponds, but the summary of facts for the case said the council should have designed, installed and maintained fencing at the ponds to prevent children from accessing them and to deter other members of the public from doing so.
In court it was ordered to pay $55,000 to each of Lachlan’s parents, and to pay WorkSafe’s prosecution charges of more than $18,000, but was not fined.
Bayliss told the meeting on Tuesday it would be up to the council to decide whether the basin would be fenced after all the relevant information had been gathered.
As well as getting legal advice, council staff have investigated options to fence the basin and were now undertaking an additional risk assessment. A further report regarding the issue would be submitted to the council once the risk assessment was completed, the report said.
Cr Robert McKenzie said he assumed most councillors had been approached by people about the fencing.
“Dare I say it, we know people can drown in two inches of water,’’ he said.
Bayliss told him that in a big rainfall, the basin could fill right to the top and potentially overflow into Broughton St, and would not hold water for a sustained period of time. It should empty within six to 12 hours, he said.
Cr Neville Phillips asked what other councils had done about fencing infiltration basins in their subdivisions.
Bayliss said that was a consideration, and the council was mindful of setting a precedent.
“We envisage that these basins will become more common throughout the town as we try to get on top of our stormwater issues and I guess if you make the decision to fence one you’re going to have to fence them all,’’ he said.
The council had installed another infiltration basin at its Matai Ridge subdivision.
Lachlan’s father, Paul Jones, has always maintained that his son did not drown in the ponds, and an inquest into the death is scheduled to begin in Invercargill next month.