The committee yesterday questioned staff about the Otago Regional Council’s draft annual compliance monitoring report for the last financial year.
The report focused on monitoring large-scale activities, water takes, structures and works in and near freshwater, coastal structures and oil-spill preparedness, and reducing both non-compliant air discharges and non-compliant discharges for improved freshwater quality.
Committee co-chairman Cr Michael Laws asked staff what the council’s "primary problem" was in terms of compliance and who the primary offenders were.
Chief executive Richard Saunders confirmed the council’s most significant challenge was wastewater treatment plant compliance.
"That’s no secret," Mr Saunders said.
"There are still significant challenges. There are significant challenges right across Three Waters management, which are very well understood given the processes that are going through.
"We still retain our role as a regulator and need to and do work very closely with the [local councils] to try and ensure that compliance is being achieved or significant risks to the environment are being appropriately managed — but that remains our biggest challenge."
Cr Laws said although the regional council was working with local councils to try to improve the discharge from their wastewater treatment plants "we are still encountering problems, the most recent being Queenstown".
"How effective is our management with those particular bodies?" he asked.
"Are we making any progress?"
Environmental delivery general manager Joanna Gilroy said some compliance issues at wastewater treatment plants were easy fixes, "but wastewater sites were complex in terms of making improvements to then get a measurable change in terms of compliance".
"The actions that those consent holders need to take can be complex and do take time to implement, and they are then also responsible to their own organisations in terms of being a consent holder and reporting through to their councillors," Ms Gilroy said.
Cr Laws asked if council leniency was "leading to these continual breaches".
Ms Gilroy said no.
"We’re taking appropriate compliance steps in line with our compliance enforcement policy and implementing the RMA."
The Queenstown Lakes District Council and regional council released a joint statement this week saying there had been some ongoing challenges at the Shotover wastewater treatment plant.
Ms Gilroy said yesterday the council had been dealing with multiple incidents over time — an abatement notice was in place and infringement notices had been issued for "the breaching of that".
Investigations were under way and staff were looking at next steps.
Cr Laws asked that staff recognise there was "a unity around this table I haven’t seen for a long time".
There was "unanimous concern" among councillors around the issue.
"We collectively are becoming impatient for improvement," he said.
The report to councillors yesterday said there was extensive compliance monitoring work at the council.
Council compliance manager Carlo Bell said the council had achieved its monitoring targets, and there had been a strong focus on priority areas and "overall a good level of compliance" in all areas across the region.
