Time for back to the future? Waikato District Council previously fined and formally warned over Raglan sewage spills

With the recent wastewater spills into the Raglan Harbour, Raglanites are asking if in 2023 the Waikato Regional Council should take legal action against Waikato District Council? This has been done in the past. Below is a republication of an old article from our archives about formal action taken in 2016 by WRC against WRC. It was preceded by legal action taken by WRC in 2014, which saw the Waikato District Council being fined $56,000 for spilling nearly 5 million litres of sewage into the harbour.

The question for WRC is of course would legal action solve the problem?

BACK TO 2016 FOR A GLIMPSE OF WHAT COULD HAPPEN IN 2023.

Media Release: Waikato Regional Council, 26 July 2016

Waikato District Council has received a formal warning following an investigation into an incident at Easter weekend which resulted in untreated wastewater getting into Raglan harbour.

The regional council’s industry and infrastructure manager Brent Sinclair said the decision to settle on a formal warning reflected the overall facts of the case, and the district council’s response to the spills.

“The spill on 25 March was a serious incident but, having regard to all the circumstances and the swift actions of district council staff in responding to the incident, we consider a formal warning is appropriate.”

The regional council’s investigation found the discharge occurred after a section of pipeline failed, most likely due to a combination of technical factors. There was a second minor discharge from a manhole the next day while remediation work on the failed section of pipeline was carried out.

In a formal warning letter, Mr Sinclair acknowledged that district council staff had worked quickly to sort out the problems.

However, the letter also noted: “It is concerning that there is a growing number of formal enforcement actions that have been taken against your [district] council for breaches of the Resource Management Act.

“Each action contributes to the Waikato District Council’s history of non-compliance. We are obliged to take this history into account each time a further breach is identified.”

Mr Sinclair said the regional council had not been able to determine the exact volume of wastewater that reached the harbour. Witness accounts suggested the spill into the harbour occurred over a relatively short period of time.