ON Sunday, Brent Horan also stumbled across fly tipping of couches in a creek at Levin's Waiopehu Reserve. Photo/Brent Horan.
ON Sunday, Brent Horan also stumbled across fly tipping of couches in a creek at Levin's Waiopehu Reserve. Photo/Brent Horan.
Hundreds of lamb's tails have been dumped at one of Levin's popular swimming areas, the Ohau River, which is also the source of the town's drinking water supply.
Last week, Levin resident Robin Warnes stumbled across the sight.
He said some were floating down the river with many more stuck in the stones.
"People were swimming downstream from the contamination."
Mr Warnes said that it was reported to Horowhenua District Council which forwarded the issue to Horizons Regional Council, however four days later the tails were still in the river rotting.
Horizons Regional Council group manager strategy and regulation Dr Nic Peet said that they were made aware of the tails on Monday 30 October and Higgins had been contracted to get the tails out of the river.
"Our officers have spoken with HDC today to confirm the order had been raised to Higgins and it had. This is standard practice in terms of having things removed and we supply an incident number to HDC and pick up half the cost," he said.
"We have a shared cleanup agreement with territorial authorities when it comes to dumping in waterways."
He said they don't yet know who put the tails in the river, and even though the quantity was large, there was no evidence it was a farmer.
ON Sunday, Brent Horan also stumbled across fly tipping of couches in a creek at Levin's Waiopehu Reserve. Photo/Brent Horan.
"There are a range of powers available to Horizons if a person were caught, such as abatement notices and infringement notices,"
Section 15(1)(a) of the Resource Management ctA (RMA) 1991 states no person may discharge any contaminant into water unless the discharge is expressly allowed by a national environmental standard, other regulations or a resource consent.
Mr Peet said that the environmental impact in this case was "very minor... though obviously unsightly and unpleasant for people using the river area".
"Unfortunately fly tipping of various materials in and around waterways does happen around the region and ultimately it is communities who end up having to pay for the clean-up," he said.
"There are perfectly simple ways to properly dispose of rubbish. Throwing it in a river isn't one of them."
Horowhenua District Council's environmental engineer Ryan Hughes said on average council receives about nine reports of fly tipping per month, and is able to issue infringements for seven - about a 78 per cent success rate.
"We take a zero-tolerance approach to fly tipping and act on any reports with haste.
"Where the offenders are identified, either through vehicle licence plates or information found in the rubbish, a $400 fine will usually be issued within the week, if not the same day."
Mr Hughes said council relies heavily on public reports of fly tipping, and anyone who sees it is asked to capture as much information as possible, including photos of people in the act or of the rubbish after it's been dumped, licence plate numbers of the offending vehicles, anything identifying the offenders and the location.
"We're able to issue infringements to 100 per cent of the reports that include either licence plate numbers, personal information found, or information obtained via CCTV footage."
Mr Hughes said it is very disappointing that some people show such disrespect for the environment by illegally dumping their rubbish.
Council provides waste transfer stations in Foxton, Shannon and Levin (operated by Midwest Disposals), as well as recycling stations throughout the district and kerbside rubbish and recycling collection services.
Photos of people fly tipping can be emailed to enquiries@horowhenua.govt.nz. Reports with licence plate numbers can be phoned in to the council on (06) 366-0999 at any time.
For more information, visit the Rubbish and Recycling pages on the council's website www.horowhenua.govt.nz, or contact council on (06) 366-0999 or enquiries@horowhenua.govt.nz
