A record number of people are reporting pollution incidents to the Otago Regional Council, as "perceived environmental harm" becomes less acceptable, council environmental services manager Martin King says.
Bad smells, backyard burning and domestic heating caused the majority of complaints to the council in the 12 months to July, a report to the compliance committee this week said.
Last financial year, the council received 1219 reports, 310 more than the previous year.
About 46% of complaints were air-related - odour (187), burning-domestic heat systems (194) and backyard burning (80). Thirty-two percent were water-related, with the majority (279) about freshwater pollution.
Mr King said in the report the council's environmental services unit had responded to a record number of incidents because of the "sharp" increase in calls.
"There definitely seems to be an appreciation from members of the public that any perceived environmental harm is no longer acceptable."
The council also had better reporting and recording mechanisms, which had improved response times, he said.
As a result of the complaints the council's enforcement unit had issued 58 infringement fines, mainly for backyard burning, freshwater pollution and odour offences.
The unit's work had also led to 15 prosecutions, mainly for the discharge of contaminants on to land where they might enter the water, and two abatement notices, he said.
Compliance checks on all major consent holders and permitted activities were also undertaken by staff, with 64% found to be compliant. The worst non-compliance dropped from 9% in 2008-09 to 1% in the past year.
However, nearly 50% of the 596 consents for discharging and taking water failed to comply through having poor effluent systems, air-discharge parameters not being met or objectionable odour being dispersed across the boundary, he said.
"Of concern is the 150 [25%] consents that were found to have potential effects on the environment."
Explanations were sought from consent holders and in 57 cases follow-up site visits were carried out, he said.
There was also a high level of non-compliance with water meter installation rules, with meters not correctly installed, and consent holders were asked to rectify the situation.
A high level of compliance was found on dairy farms and within the structures-monitoring project.
