Matamata-Piako District Council has been convicted and fined $105,000 in the Hamilton District Court this week for unlawfully discharging wastewater from its treatment plant in Waihou, near Te Aroha.

The case related to repeated discharges of wastewater (including sewage) in exceedance of daily discharge volumes and quality limits and failing to comply with consent reporting requirements at various times between November 2022 and October 2023.

Records identified a consistent failure to adequately treat wastewater through the plant, with wastewater quality substantially exceeding consent limitations. Problems arose when a key piece of treatment infrastructure failed and was not replaced or repaired in a timely manner.

The case was taken by Waikato Regional Council following an investigation. Matamata-Piako District Council had been formally warned for similar breaches several times between 2017 and 2022, with the latest breaches corresponding with a change in personnel overseeing and managing the wastewater treatment plant.

“Essentially resource consents are licences to operate,” said Regional Compliance Manager Patrick Lynch.

“They are an agreement with the community that the consent holder will interact with the environment in a certain way. Meeting consent conditions is not optional. They are important and are designed to safeguard our waterways. In this instance, there have been significant and avoidable discharges over a prolonged period”

In delivering her decision, Judge Melinda Dickey found that the discharges, spanning at least seven months, were “not only culturally offensive, but also contribute negatively to the overall health of the water”. In summing up the offending, Judge Dickey found that Matamata Piako District Council “was highly culpable for this offending” and that while “its omissions were explainable, the consequences were unacceptable”.

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