A Queenstown Lakes District Council investigation is under way but it is too soon to know if the property owner will face any legal action over his soil stockpiling and landscaping efforts.
Council regulatory manager Anthony Hall said a private individual had left soil on an area of Youghal St that included council road reserve.
"We previously asked this person to install silt mitigation measures while council staff investigate the situation.
"The runoff of silt into Bullock Creek overnight will be part of this investigation.
"As such it is not appropriate for council to make any further public statement while this is under way, other than to say that we will require the individual to implement further mitigation measures," Mr Hall said.
The source of the silt was a property in Youghal St, below the Wanaka Golf course escarpment.
Otago Fish & Game officer Paul van Klink, who has worked for years on the Bullock Creek wetland restoration project, had just one word to describe how he felt — "terrible".
He said the property owner appeared to be filling a gully between his house and the roadside, which interfered with runoff above.
Deputy mayor Calum Macleod yesterday demanded action.
"I am totally sick of this. This is once again us failing to do our job ... Where are QLDC’s enforcement team?" he said in an email to Mr Hall, his fellow councillors, Mayor Jim Boult, Fish & Game staff and Friends of Bullock Creek committee members.
"The ongoing issues with mistreatment of Bullock Creek has been pointed out for years ... note that this occurred after a sprinkling of rain, not after an unpredictable storm event."
Mr van Klink confirmed he had reported concerns about the stockpile several times last month, but his core complaint was on March 31, when he pointed out the straw bale and windcloth erosion controls were "not nearly enough".
He promised to be the first to let the council know if there was a flood of sediment-laden water and predicted such an event could happen if there was more than 30mm of rain, but yesterday’s event just needed 12mm.
Mr van Klink was said the water was flowing like "chocolate" down the road into two creek tributaries on the edge.
"Unfortunately, QLDC is treating Bullock Creek like a developer’s stormwater drain when we see the effects from Alpha Series over the last five years and now the Youghal St situation."
On Monday, QLDC environmental officer Sam Marsh acknowledged Mr van Klink’s concerns in an email and reassured him council engineers would do a site visit this week to check the property owner was complying with requests to stop transporting fill and to remove the soil from council land.
The Otago Daily Times had not been able to identify or contact the property owner before publication deadline last night.
