Leachate overflowing from pond 2 at the Rotorua Landfill and going into a storm water drain on the morning of April 6, 2017. Photo / Supplied
Leachate overflowing from pond 2 at the Rotorua Landfill and going into a storm water drain on the morning of April 6, 2017. Photo / Supplied
A four-year court case resulting in Rotorua's council pleading guilty to discharging a dangerous substance from the city's dump has cost almost $1 million in legal and consultancy costs.
The figure is the combined cost of Rotorua Lakes Council and Bay of Plenty Regional Council legal and consultancy fees.
Earlier this month the Rotorua Daily Post revealed Rotorua Lakes Council had pleaded guilty to a charge of discharging stormwater contaminated with leachate from its landfill site on to land that may have entered Rotorua's waterways on April 6, 2017.
The council, repeatedly warned about the offending over eight years, was eventually charged by the Bay of Plenty Regional Council in 2017 and now faces a maximum $600,000 fine.
Leachate is contaminated water, in this case contaminated by substances in the city's landfill.
The leachate, when tested on the land, had levels of bacteria equivalent to raw sewage.
Details of the case were suppressed by the court but this was lifted when the guilty plea was entered in May 2021. The Rotorua Daily Post began requesting the court documents at that time and they were released on August 27.
Local Democracy Reporting can now reveal the costs of the case as at May 27, including lawyers' fees, was $944,999 - made up of a $695,656 cost to the district council and a $249,343 cost to the regional council.
Rotorua Lakes Council's figure covered April 2017 to May this year and the regional council's from April 1, 2017 to September 1, 2021.
Rotorua council's figure was made up of legal costs of $480,463 and consultant costs of $215,193.
Legal costs went to Tompkins Wake ($309,971) and Lachlan Muldowney ($170,492).
Resource management and planning consultants Mitchell Daysh Limited was paid $14,621 and engineering and environmental consultants Pattle Delamore Partners Limited was paid $200,572.
Of those costs, the biggest bills came in the July 2018 to June 2019 period, a total of $469,760.
Rotorua Lakes Council organisational enablement deputy chief executive Thomas Colle said "unanticipated costs like this do have an impact".
"We actively seek savings to offset increased or unanticipated operational costs.
"Costs associated with this matter have had to be absorbed into operational budgets and we have had to find general savings to offset this."
Leachate overflowing from pond 2 at the Rotorua Landfill and going into a storm water drain on the morning of April 6, 2017. Photo / Supplied
The Bay of Plenty Regional Council's cost, just under $250,000, was made up of $233,289 for legal fees, expert opinion at $15,081 and external contractors costing $972.
A regional council spokesperson said the organisation budgeted for the cost of its compliance activity on an annual basis, including legal fees.
"This expenditure had no material impact on the budgets for regional council's compliance activity or regional council's 'bottom line.'"
Its costs did not account for staff time.
The spokeswoman said the regional council's compliance activities were funded from a "variety of sources", not just rates.
"It's a combination of fees and charges, other regional council revenue, investment returns and general rates."
The regional council was also asked why it gave Rotorua Lakes Council several chances before proceeding to prosecution and if there had been any lessons gleaned from the case.
Rotorua Lakes Council chief executive Geoff Williams. Photo / File
The spokeswoman said the regional council was not able to comment further while the case remained before the court.
Earlier this month, the Rotorua Daily Post asked the district council questions including why it took four years to plead guilty and why it didn't fix the problem despite the warnings.
It was also asked whether it had warned anyone impacted by the leachate discharge of its danger and why none of the recommendations made by Tonkin and Taylor in 2015 to combat the issue where implemented.
It also asked whether any staff had faced disciplinary action related to the issue.
In a written response via the council's communications team, council chief executive officer Geoff Williams said it couldn't provide more comment until after sentencing.
He said the regional council brought six charges against the district council in 2017 alleging various breaches in March and April 2017.
He said the charges followed the heaviest period of rainfall on record in the Whakarewarewa catchment area in the 30 days prior.
Four charges were subsequently dismissed and a fifth was dismissed when the district council pleaded guilty to the sixth charge.
What went wrong?
Rotorua Lakes Council's guilty plea drew an end to a four-year court battle over the discharge of a dangerous substance from the landfill, just south of the city.
The discharge was a substance called leachate, which when tested on land had levels of bacteria equivalent to raw sewage. Leachate is water which has passed through matter and picked up elements of it.
Contact with the contaminated water can cause serious illnesses such as gastroenteritis, respiratory problems, skin rashes and other serious illnesses and cause serious environmental effects such as destroying fish life, the summary of facts said.
The Bay of Plenty Regional Council charged Rotorua Lakes Council in 2017 after warning it repeatedly over eight years about leachate reaching the waterways.
The council now faces a maximum fine of $600,000 under the Resource Management Act.
The Rotorua landfill in 2015. Photo / File
Under the district council's resource consent, it must ensure landfill leachate does not enter the stormwater treatment system and that the stormwater system is adequately maintained.
Tureporepo Stream flows into Puarenga Stream, where penny divers swim for coins left by tourists. Puarenga Stream also flows through the tourist attraction Te Puia.
Details of the case were suppressed but were lifted following the council's guilty plea.
In 1998, the district council was convicted of three similar offences and fined $24,000.
How it unfolded
November 1999, August 2006, August 2007, May 2008: Regional council officers found leachate discharging from the Rotorua landfill entering a stormwater pond that discharged into the Tureporepo Stream.
2008: The regional council asked the district council to fix the problem by issuing an abatement notice. It was later cancelled at the request of the district council.
The council tried different measures to improve the situation, including installing vertical pipes to improve drainage and constructing a leachate pond.
November 2009, May 2010 and January 2011: The regional council found leachate had again broken through the landfill site entering a stormwater pond which flows to the Tureporepo Stream.
August 2011 and May 2013: The regional council told the district council it needed stormwater management plans for the landfill given increasing rainfall and to upgrade a leachate pump and reticulation system.
August 2014: The regional council again notified the district council there had been a discharge of leachate from the landfill site to land where it entered water.
Court documents said the discharge had been caused by high rainfall and a pipe that was too small.
The district council had earlier said it was going to upgrade the pipe but that had not happened, the summary said.
February 2015: The regional council issued another abatement notice to the district council and included a final prosecution warning.
The regional council also requested a report by March 2015 outlining what steps the district council would take to ensure no further discharges.
The council organised a review of the risks at the landfill which made several recommendations. None of the recommendations were implemented.
The council went on to contract a company to manage the site.
July 2016: The regional council met with the site operator to make them aware it was at the "end of its patience" and any further discharges would result in prosecution.
Shortly after taking over management, the site operator noticed leachate was breaking through and heading towards Tureporepo Stream.
November 2016: The site operator engaged Tonkin and Taylor to find a solution.
April 6, 2017: The regional council discovered illegal leachate discharge in varying places, in one area "at a high rate".
Court documents stated since this date the district council and site operator had made improvements to the way stormwater was managed at the landfill, which has since been capped.
