Annual report 2006-2007 - Taranaki Regional Council

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Condition requirement Means of monitoring during period under review Compliance achieved?
13. Cover material contoured to
direct stormwater away
14. Disposal area shall be
rehabilitated
Inspections N/A
Inspections N/A
15. Lapsed period Consent exercised within lapse period N/A
16. Optional review of consent Not exercised N/A
N/A = not applicable
During the year, the Company demonstrated a poor level of environmental
performance and compliance with the resource consents. During the year under
review there were 5 unauthorised incidents, all of which related to air emissions. 1 of
the incidents was considered to cause objectionable odours outside the site boundary
and had significant effects on neighbouring properties downwind of the plant. This
incident resulted in the issuance of an infringement notice, and it is this that has
pushed the compliance rating from ‘improvement desirable’ to ‘poor’, and therefore
no apparent improvement from the previous few years.
What this doesn’t acknowledge however, is the significant improvement achieved on
site during the preceding one and a half years. This is best illustrated by the 80%
reduction in incidents recorded against the site, when compared with the previous
monitoring period.
The wastewater treatment ponds continue to perform poorly, and during the
monitoring year under review, the discharge from this system has resulted in raised
levels of BOD5 and nutrients in the Kahouri Stream. These changes in water quality
are likely to have been the primary factor in the changes recorded in the biological
survey. This survey found a significant decrease in MCI and SQMCIS scores
downstream of the confluence with the abattoir tributary. This is likely to be due to
the impacts from the abattoir (rather than the Ballance Agri Nutrients site), but this is
unclear without further monitoring. Therefore it is recommended that additional
sites be included in subsequent surveys to assess the impact of the abattoir discharge
on this unnamed tributary. Nevertheless, it is also suggested that the consent holder
continues further investigations into improving this treatment system to ensure the
wastewater is treated effectively.
The new consent 6570 to bury raw degenerating material to land in emergency
situations requires a waste burial management plan to be submitted to the Council
by June 2005 (special condition 5). Although there are details of the requirements of
this consent in the contingency plan provided by the Company, this does not address
all the matters defined in special condition 5 of consent 6570. The contingency plan
should be reviewed to include all requirements of the Waste Burial Management
Plan.
2.6.4 Recommendations from the 2005-2006 Annual Report
In the 2005-2006 Annual Report, it was recommended: