The Clutha District Council has been fined nearly $500,000 for systemic failures in managing five of its wastewater treatment plants.
The council appeared in the Dunedin District Court this afternoon where it pleaded guilty to six charges under the Resource Management Act.
The breaches related to plants at Tapanui, Kaka Point, Lawrence, Owaka and Stirling.
Such were the failures, identified towards the end of 2019, that he struggled to find any comparable cases.
The charges came about as a result of an Otago Regional Council (ORC) audit which found several significant failures in performance and breaches of resource conditions.
Mayor Bryan Cadogan said he was deeply embarrassed that this situation was allowed to occur, and apologised to ratepayers, communities and iwi.
He said every step was being taken to rectify the matter and counsel Michael Parker told the court today that there had been a disciplinary process because of what occurred, which affected “present and past employees”.
Since the breaches, the Clutha District Council said it had worked alongside ORC to rectify the situation, to achieve compliance and to enable the plants to be successfully managed in future.
The council, the court heard today, had contracted City Care Limited to manage the wastewater plants concerned.
Judge Dwyer said, however, the council took no steps to ensure the company was properly managing the sites.
City Care has pleaded not guilty to 12 charges and its case will be called again next year.
Clutha District Council was fined $488,253 and ordered to pay court costs of $130 on each charge.