West Coast monitoring staff busy

Nicole Mathewson Reporter from The Press

From Local Democracy Reporter Brendon McMahon:

West Coast Regional Council monitoring staff have been busy in the past month, with 79 site visits.

Compliance staff received 16 complaints, issued one formal warning and one abatement notice.

The formal warning was to an Arahura Valley goldminer for an unconsented water take, and a Kapitia Creek miner received an abatement notice.

Of the 79 site visits, 16 were due to complaints, eight for resource consent monitoring, eight mining compliance and bond release checks, and 47 dairy farm checks.

The Kapitia mine site abatement followed several complaints from one complainant that sediment laden water was being discharged into the stream.

"The mining treatment ponds had a leak in the pond wall. The discharge flowed down a bush creek into Kapitia Creek... The investigation is still ongoing," staff said.

At nearby Stafford, a goldminer and an outside complainant both notified of sediment laden water escaping into Waimea Creek.

"The miner had shut the operation down to cease any further discharges."

When the council visited the creek had cleared upstream, but deeper pools downstream were "discoloured with sedimentation".

No decision had yet been taken on enforcement action.

At Fox Creek, a miner received a formal warning for taking water without consent after staff visited the Arahura Valley site following a complaint about sediment discharges.

Staff found the miner carrying out "exploration testing" but the creek was not discoloured.

The miner is now applying for a water take consent.

Council staff found visible sediment in Boatmans Creek in Inangahua following a complaint the stream was "significantly discoloured".

An adjacent farm property, impacted by the February floods, was found to be the culprit after the landowner moved gravel in the creek bed, breaking permitted activity rules allowing bank reinstatement and removal of flood debris. An "educative approach" was used and the landowner was seeking a resource consent.

At Ruatapu, a complaint about harvested logs from a forestry block being dragged through a creek was "a minor non-compliance".

The forester had neglected to notify the council as required but there were no issues with the operation method, staff said.

Other complaints/incidents not yet found to be either compliant or non-compliant included:

* Multiple complaints about a burn-off at Blue Spur discharging smoke and ash on to neighbouring properties.

* Multiple other complaints about discharge from the Kapitia goldmine.

* Large amounts of baleage wrap "caught high in the trees" along the Little Totara River north of Charleston and washed down the river during the February flood was traced to the owner who was organising a clean-up.

* Flooding at Inangahua allegedly caused by land development on a farm was related to severe weather events but the nearby land development might be exacerbating the situation;

* A complaint about the discharge of dust from a gravel quarry in the Grey River bed at Omoto. The gravel access road to the site was the likely cause but as the road was public it did not breach regional rules or resource consent conditions.

The gravel operator had been advised to consider the neighbouring properties and use a water cart.