The New Zealand Transport Authority will get tough with anyone it catches illegally dumping rubbish in roadside pits along a major Otago tourist highway.
However, it does not, at present, have funding to fill in the pits beside State Highway 8 between Lake Ruataniwha and south of Omarama, despite a demand from the Omarama community that something be done.
The pits were dug to get fill and gravel decades ago and have been used to dump rubbish sporadically in the past.
Recently, the problem has returned, as rubbish and car bodies have been put in the pits.
"It is our intention to fill these pits in over time, but this depends on funding and how the work stacks up against other projects that may have a great priority," the agency's coastal Otago area manager, Roger Bailey, said yesterday.
The agency did not condone the practice of dumping rubbish in the pits.
"It is illegal dumping and we will follow up with the police and prosecute anyone who dumps car bodies or other rubbish in them," he said.
Mr Bailey said the agency was prepared to accept clean hard fill - clay or concrete - being dumped into the pits with its approval.
The use of crushed glass to help fill the pits was being discussed with the Waitaki District Council, but finding cheap material was difficult and the cost of transport significant.
"The difficulty is there are several pits and the volumes [of fill] involved are huge."
