Illegal fly-tipping on the district’s South Coast will cost local ratepayers at least $200,000 to clear up and remove before it begins leaching into the Hurupi River and onto the seashore, officials have advised South Wairarapa councillors.
Many tonnes of everything from household furniture, wooden and steel rubbish, microwaves and even car bodies have been dumped down the cliff face in recent years. The mess was brought to council’s notice in January last year by the Department of Environment.
Officials said the illegal rubbish tipping apparently only halted after concrete blocks were placed over a forestry access track to the clifftops above the river.
“Due to the (steep) terrain, the exact volume of waste remains uncertain,” a report to the council’s Strategy Working Committee said.
Earlier, council chief executive Janice Smith said the volume of dumped waste is “substantial, unacceptable and potentially fatal” to the environment – and council “will do everything we can to identify and prosecute those responsible for this illegal activity.”
That could include searching through the dumped rubbish to try and uncover the perpetrators.
The report noted that leaving the waste at the site could mean hefty fines for the council from the Environment Protection Agency if “anything falls into the river below.”
Officials also warned the “regulatory risk” of the national Environmental Protection Agency serving a clean-up order – “there is a need (read: ‘legal requirement’) to clean-up the illegal dump site, as opposed to leaving it in situ.”
Removal will involve, cranes, specialist cliff abseilers, a bulldozer, large disposal bins, even two portaloos for the clean-up crew. Road cones will also feature.
This phase of waste removal and disposal, is estimated as taking 10 days while site restoration and monitoring is projected to take another 2 – 6 months. During this latter period the damaged area will be planted in native vegetation.
Extra costs may be encountered during the clean-up if hazardous material such as asbestos is found in the piled-up waste, while weather delays may further add to costs.
On the health and safety front, officials said specialist contractors are needed because of the location, with trained abseilers accessing the tip site and specialist crane and waste removal staff involved.
In its site Inspection Notice, the Environmental Protection Agency notes while there is no evidence of the rubbish discharging into the surrounding environment, the Hurupi River is “at the base of the cliff.”
But, “if the rubbish were to migrate closer to, or into the river, then this would become an RMA (Resource Management Act) matter, and the EPA and/or the GWRC (Greater Wellington Regional Council) would become involved.”
Worst case: SWDC served “an abatement notice, prosecuted and an enforcement order sought.”
EPA’s advice: remove the rubbish before a major weather event or earthquake “results in the rubbish ending up in the river.”
