Taranaki Regional Council (the Council) to assess STDC’s environmental and consent compliance
performance during the period under review. The report also details the results of the monitoring
undertaken and assesses the environmental effects of STDC’s activities at the Eltham, Hawera, Manaia,
Opunake and Patea landfills. Triennial monitoring of the Kaponga or Otakeho closed landfills was not
scheduled to take place during the year under review.
STDC holds 10 resource consents, consisting of
site complied with consent conditions at
the time. Receiving water inspections and sampling showed that the discharges were not causing any
adverse effects on the Waitara River or Mangahewa Stream at the time of monitoring.
During the year, the Company demonstrated a high level of both environmental performance and
administrative compliance with the resource consents. There were no unauthorised incidents recorded by
the Council in relation to the Company’s activities. The McKee Power Plant
environment be prohibited unless
there is an unforeseen emergency such as a tree falling on a pipe but that said, all risks
should be assessed and prevented. It is unacceptable in this day and age to be discharging
contaminants to fresh or seawater. There are always alternatives such as grey and black
water systems or controlled evaporation. As a society we use far too much clean water to
‘wash away’ contaminants. This attitude has to stop. In most places around the world they
wouldn’t think of
monitoring
The RMA primarily addresses environmental ‘effects’ which are defined as positive or
adverse, temporary or permanent, past, present or future, or cumulative. Effects may
arise in relation to:
(a) the neighbourhood or the wider community around an activity, and may include
cultural and social-economic effects;
(b) physical effects on the locality, including landscape, amenity and visual effects;
(c) ecosystems, including effects on plants, animals, or habitats, whether aquatic
Management Act 1991 and monitoring
The RMA primarily addresses environmental ‘effects’ which are defined as positive or
adverse, temporary or permanent, past, present or future, or cumulative. Effects may
arise in relation to:
(a) the neighbourhood or the wider community around an activity, and may include
cultural and social-economic effects;
(b) physical effects on the locality, including landscape, amenity and visual effects;
(c) ecosystems, including effects on plants, animals, or
conducted at the landfills.
Each of the closed landfills is then discussed in a separate section (Sections 2 to 4).
In each subsection 1 (e.g. Section 2.1) there is a general description of the landfilled site and its discharges,
an aerial photograph or map showing the location of the former landfill, and an outline of the matters
covered by the water discharge permit.
Subsection 2 presents the results of monitoring of the SDC’s activities at each of the sites during the period
under
did not indicate that the discharges were
causing any adverse effects on the Waitara River or Mangahewa Stream at the time of monitoring.
During the year, the Company demonstrated a high level of both environmental performance and
administrative compliance with the resource consents. There were no unauthorised incidents recorded by
the Council in relation to the Company’s activities. The McKee Power Plant was well managed and
maintained.
For reference, in the 2017-2018 year, consent
activities at a crematorium site, the
discharge of visible smoke or odours from a cremator may be found to be offensive.
During the reporting period, NPDC demonstrated a good level of environmental
performance with the resource consent.
For reference, in the 2015-2016 year, 71% of consent holders in Taranaki monitored through
tailored compliance monitoring programmes achieved a high level of environmental
performance and compliance with their consents, while another 24% demonstrated a good
found at some sites, most of which were addressed in a timely manner. Non-
compliant levels of suspended solids continue to be a persistent issue and enforcement action has been
taken to resolve this.
Chemical monitoring of the stream found that although there were measurable changes in some
parameters, most of these would have resulted in only minor transient effects at most. In terms of
guidelines, no exceedances of guidelines copper, ammoniacal nitrogen, or biochemical oxygen demand
were
this year.
Two years ago, the Council put considerable effort into
the preparation and adoption of its 2015/2025 Long-
Term Plan. This included significant public
engagement and consultation processes. This Annual
Plan continues to deliver on the agreements put in
place with the community in that Long-Term Plan.
Indeed, for 2017/2018, other than identified new
opportunities, there are no significant or material
differences from the plans set out for 2017/2018