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An environment court has fined the Invercargill City Council for discharging raw sewage into the Waihopai River for five days straight, Stuff.co.nz reports.
The council appeared in an environmental court in Invercargill last week for its sentence based on one charge laid by Environment Southland for contravening the Resource Management Act.
It was ordered to pay $30,625 for the incident that resulted in 36 cubic metres of sewage pumped into the Waihopai River from January 21 to 26 last year.
"As the court regularly notes in dairy effluent cases, the quality of our rivers continues to suffer as a result of the cumulative effects of the myriad of often small, temporary individual discharges to them,” Judge Brian Dwyer told Stuff.co.nz.
“Further to that, the direct discharge of untreated human effluent to our water bodies is offensive to our communities at large and should be avoided as a matter of principal in whatever volumes.”
The issue brings environmental insurance to light as Environment Southland lawyer Tim McGuigan confirmed that the city council had insurance to cover the fines – ensuring that taxpayers will not suffer for the council’s mistakes.
Michael Parker, the council’s lawyer, said the council is remorseful about the environmentally damaging mistake – so it also sought advice to improve its system.
“Your honour knows this is an intractable problem throughout New Zealand but my client is doing its best to come up with the best solution, environmentally and of course for the community,” Parker said.
