Algal growth, scum and sanitary napkins - council-owned company found guilty
'They were untidy, overgrown, unmaintained and none were operating properly'
About five years ago a stench emerged near our letterbox.
It got worse; much worse.
Excrement and toilet paper later cascaded down our path.
Weeks before the council had installed new wastewater pipes to our gate. The wastewater pipe on our side was seemingly buggered, spewing fourth the four signs of the apocalypse everytime a toilet flushed (back then we had a toddler and a nine-year-old . . . ).
It wasn’t our fault, said the council. It wasn’t our fault, said the contractor. Not our problem said the most useless insurance company in the world.
It seems highly unlikely an old ceramic pipe, which had functioned for decades, suddenly cracked and collapsed just weeks after a new pipe was connected to it.
In the end, we paid. Because we’d rather not walk through liquid streams of shit than talk to people espousing liquid streams of shit.
Glad I got that off my chest.
I thought of that incident when I read a decision involving Otago Regional Council taking a case against Citycare. If you’ve never heard of the Christchurch City Council owned City Care Ltd, they are like the Dunedin equivalent of Delta/Aurora.
Citycare Water was awarded a five-year contract with the council in mid-2019 (please remember that date).
As an aside the Clutha District Council was fined nearly $490,000 and ordered to pay court costs by the Dunedin District Court in a December 2021 decision, you can read more of that here.
Late last year there was a hearing held in the Dunedin District Court, and a judgment was finally delivered late last month. I got it this week.
It is some grim reading. Essentially the company had pleaded not guilty to 12 alternative charges brought against by the regional council, but six of those charges were later dismissed.
The six remaining charges relate to the discharges or permitting of discharges (if you don’t know what discharges means, please re-read the third sentence) of contaminants from wastewater treatment plants at Stirling, Owaka, Kaka Point, Tapanui and Lawrence between November 28 and December 5, 2019.
That early summer, just before the White Island tragedy and later as Covid swept across New Zealand, seems almost idyllic. Dance Monkey by Tones & I was popular, Prince Charles and Camilla visited several New Zealand cities, while algal growth, scum and sanitary napkins littered several seemingly abandoned wastewater treatment plants across South Otago.
Five of the charges relate to alleged discharges of wastewater to water or land and one ‘‘to an alleged discharge of odorous compounds to air’’, according to the decision.
That’s a nice sentence, but in reality it means the Lawrence oxidation pond gave off a smell likened to rotten meat.
The regional council argued that City Care was responsible for operation and maintenance of the wastewater treatment plants, and had signed a contract with council dated 29 July 2019.
In late November and early December 2019, an inspection by regional council officer on plants at Stirling, Owaka, Tapanui and Lawrence noted that the operation and maintenance of the plants was not being undertaken in accordance with the terms of the relevant discharge permits.
And in Kaka Point, the regional council alleged a discharge to land was being undertaken rather than to the sea.
This from an inspector concerning the wastewater treatment plants, handily described here as WWTPs.
They were untidy, overgrown, unmaintained and none were operating properly. The Tapanui and Lawrence WWTPs looked abandoned. All of the WWTPs looked to be falling apart
And this:
If someone had been on site, they would have seen that it was a mess and that the WWTPs were falling apart
And also this.
It would not have taken a lot to improve the sites: 148.1 Basic maintenance such as mowing the lawn would have meant that the sites were more accessible, leaks would be easier to locate and wavebands could be inspected.
Another inspector found that at Lawrence, Tapanui and Owaka there was direct discharge of partially treated wastewater to the water environment.
It was unclear how long this had been happening, an emergency outflow should only happen during high rainfall event, of which there had been none.
All five sites were given a grade of: ‘Significant Non-Compliance’.
I found this fascinating:
In the interview, CCL acknowledged that the maintenance work they had carried out in the lead up to the site visits was ‘hands off’. They acknowledged that the site managers were not actually going on to the site and that staff were only driving by.
WTF.
The key was not if City Care discharged or permitted the discharge of contaminants.
As the judge noted:
These were systems where untreated wastewater flowed in one end and (supposedly) treated wastewater discharged out the other.
The question for the court was to determine whether City Care - as the party responsible for maintenance and operation of the plants - whether or not it discharged or permitted the discharges to occur other than what was allowed by their resource consents.
Judge Brian Dwyer noted that there was a suggestion of “a honeymoon period” under the contract where it was implied that City Care might not be obliged to comply with operation and maintenance procedures or resource consent conditions.
‘‘I find City Care’s understanding of just what it was supposed to do in terms of maintenance during the first six months somewhat “blurry”,’’ he noted.
City Care, by its own admission, said its work was ‘‘minimal’’.
‘‘There is no doubt that the conditions of the plants substantially deteriorated between 1 July 2019 and the date of the Council inspections,’’ Judge Dwyer noted.
He went further, identifying multiple failures by City Care, including inadequately discussing with employees the requirements of the discharge permits, and taking a ‘‘hands-off approach’’ over the first five months of the contract.
‘‘I am satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that City Care is guilty on all charges. I make the observation that I consider its culpability for this offending to be at a considerably lower level than that of CDC which has been previously dealt with.’’
The company will be sentenced on June 30.
That date rung a bell with me. I checked news’ releases from the Clutha District Council and found this:
Clutha District Council’s water operations and maintenance contract with Citycare Water will end by mutual agreement on 30 June 2023.
Council is working toward a new approach in delivering water services for the Clutha District until they become the responsibility of a proposed new Otago/Southland water entity on or before 1 July 2026.
I’m going to think about this story when I flush the toilet tonight, and hopefully my home’s pipes will continue to function as intended.
ICYMI I covered a coronial cases this week, and in between checked out the protest from University of Otago staff and supporters over the proposed cuts.
Here is a selection of some of the best signs.
This one is a nod to the proposed new logo.
I read in the ODT’s exellent Today in History column what unfolded in the city in 1955.
‘Dunedin’s last tram service to the botanic garden is marred by violence. The ‘last trippers’ vied with each other to smash windows, rip down bell cords, slash canvas shutters and remove notice and light fittings’.
It let to a bookstore being burnt down on Princes St, and ‘mass looting’ of the fire damaged stock.
I’m now even more keen for the reinstatement of trams, or at least the cable car.
On the topic of the latter, I write about the cable car project here.
Well, I see in the latest cable car newsletter that the team met with Mayor Jules Radich late last month to discuss the project.
He is interested in the outcome of the feasibility study to make sure that the project outcome is achievable. He has requested a further meeting to discuss the way forward, once we have the results of the study.
Sounds promising!
Here is Tweet of the Week, a Dunedin reference in The Simpsons!
https://twitter.com/patbrittenden/status/1655465563953545216
In other news he excellent Tiny Ruins, will be playing at the Port Chalmers Town Hall on Friday, to mark the release of their fourth album, Ceremony.
Will be a great gig, and possibly an ideal early present for the special mum in your life, or otherwise tickets to watch the undefeated Otago Nuggets!
Lastly the good people at the Cargill’s Castle Trust, who have featured in the newsletter previously, will hold Heritage Homes Open Day on Sunday 28th May, 11.00am – 4.00pm. Check out their Facebook page for more details.
And lastly if you know what the below (terrible) photo is of, please post in the comments below.
Catch ya.
I'll leave te image for someone else, sad to see the demolition by neglect wins yet again though.
Reading through all of that, some sort of reform on our water infrastructure can't come soon enough.
These are the derelict buildings on Princess Street which has the pedestrian sidewalk cordoned off because they’re so unsafe