Dairy giant criticised over waste discharges

Dairy giant Fonterra has been severely criticised by the Otago Regional Council over waste discharge.

The Otago Daily Times reported today that the council described parts of the company's waste discharge at its Stirling plant as very poor.

A report to be considered today found the dairy company:
* ignored agreements over improving quality of sewage

* was discharging sewage into the Matau branch of the Clutha River at a rate equal to more than 6000 dairy farms or a city of 500,000 people
* was discharging inorganic nitrogen at levels four times greater than from treated sewage.

The report, referring to the level of inorganic nitrogen introduced to the river, said council staff were not aware of such a worse quality discharge to a freshwater body either in New Zealand or globally.

The newspaper said the report, penned by council director of resource management Dr Selva Selvarajah, backgrounds the talks between the council and Fonterra from November 2000.

Dr Selvarajah recommended an abatement notice be served on Fonterra to stop the unauthorised discharge of faecal bacteria and review the conditions of the discharge permit held by the company. The council had previously tried to resolve issues through voluntary mechanisms.

Fonterra has a resource consent to discharge up to 3000cu m of wash water, wastewater and polisher water daily into the Matau branch.

The permit expires on October 1, 2011. The two parties had entered into a memorandum of agreement in mid-2004 to fix non-compliance issues and better understand the adverse effects of the sewage.

Dr Selvarajah wants the memorandum cancelled, and has accused Fonterra of going against the spirit of the agreement.

Fonterra had joined meat company PPCS in an appeal over sewage conditions placed on the nearby PPCS Finegand plant.

The council had opposed Fonterra being involved as a party to the process, on the grounds of Fonterra's authorised discharge bearing different adverse effects in comparison with the PPCS Finegand discharge.

Attempts to contact a Fonterra spokesman proved unsuccessful yesterday, the newspaper reported.

- NZPA