In 2012 I penned a piece on the "chronology of grief" associated with the Central Hawke's Bay District Council's chronic wastewater fiasco.
Here's a heavily abridged list of Hawke's Bay Today's relevant headlines, as was published then:
February 2005: "CHB effluent causing stink in swimming hole''.
March 2005: "Clean river depends on cash''.
February 2008: "It could be better, but it's not bad''.
April 2008: "Council try again with Tukituki meeting''.
April 2009: "Tukituki sold down river, says scientist''.
October 2010: "Wastewater upgrade a step closer''.
February 2011: "Getting the nasties out of the river''.
August 2011: "Tukituki wastewater problem addressed''.
June 2012: "Floating wetlands to help treatment''.
Wednesday this week: "Court date set for CHB wastewater charges".
The last headline refers to the regional council's decision to prosecute CHB council for breaching its resource consent conditions at treatment plants in Waipukurau and Waipawa.
Still, it seems the above list of headlines wasn't quite long enough for chief executive John Freeman, who this week cried foul over his council's pending court date.
He let loose a line indicative of council's stance in the past couple of decades: "Why are we being prosecuted rather than given an infringement notice?"
In what I think was an attempt at mitigation, he claimed council had exceeded its limit only one more time than it was entitled to.
Unbelievable.
The invited inference in this glacial failure, is that council hasn't grasped the gravitas of its wastewater issue. There have simply been too many accidents during too many years of bungled toilet training.
Regional council may well have been laughed out of the Government inquiry hearing last month for its ill-conceived prosecution of Hastings District Council - but this recent prosecution of an incorrigible offender is rather different.
While it may have taken 17 years of headlines to act, I congratulate the litigious-of-late regional council for baring its teeth. CHB council should likewise take a sudden interest.
All we can hope is the court action will force a change of mindset, and give our headline writers - and the Tukituki River - a well-earned break.
The council's first step should be to stop regarding its recidivist breaches as misdemeanours.