Human sludge dumped in open

A mountain of semi-treated human waste piled in the open close to central Whangarei has environmental and health watchdogs telling the district council to clean up its act.
Thousands of cubic metres of waste is stockpiled at the former Pohe Island landfill, less than 100m from Whangarei Harbour and a new BMX track.
According to a report, one gram of the dried waste could contaminate three cubic metres of water - equivalent to roughly eight bathtubs.
The proximity to the harbour has spurred health authorities to complain to the Northland Regional Council about the risk to water quality and public health.
Northland District Health Board environmental health officer Paul Reid has also raised concerns about the site being open to the public.
The Whangarei District Council has responded by taking steps to repair an earth barrier around the site, and put up cordons and warning signs.
As part of its landfill closure management plan, the Whangarei District Council recently renewed its long-standing regional council resource consent allowing the dumping of unsanitised biosolids from the Kioreroa Rd sewage treatment plant.
In the past seven years 16,000 cu m of sludge has been piled at Pohe Island, with a further 15,000 cu m likely to end up there before landscaping and capping that section of William Fraser Memorial Park is finished - at least five years away.
Among concerns raised by the health board, regional council and the public are faecal bacteria levels, leachate and a lack of safety barriers or warning signs. The regional council and health board say the likelihood of airborne contamination is negligible.
"But the situation contravenes Australian and New Zealand biosolid disposal standards," Mr Reid said. "It's undesirable from our point of view. Obviously there is some health risk."
Independent tests carried out in August by Whangarei company Earth-Lab show the material contains high levels of faecal coliform and E. coli - bacteria found in the human gut and faeces, which can cause stomach cramps, vomiting and diarrhoea.
With faecal coliform levels of 661,000 units/g dry weight and E. coli at 511,000 units/g, one gram of the dried biosolids could contaminate 3 cu m of water, making it unfit for recreation, the report said.
Mr Reid said he could not comment on the independent test findings.
The sludge was the by-product of human effluent, household grey water and stormwater separated at the sewage treatment plant. It was not raw sewage, nor was it sanitised when it left the plant, Northland Regional Council monitoring manager Riaan Elliot said.
The regional council this week asked for assurances from the district council over the efficiency of the underground leachate collection system, Mr Elliot said. The leachate is trapped, then piped into the wastewater system and back to the treatment plant. The system was installed to catch leachate from the original landfill. The consent requires the site to be surrounded by an earth bund to help keep out the public and contain run-off.
Members of the public have contacted the Advocate about the open access and lack of warning signs. Large areas of the piles are coated in a dried crust but the material underneath acts like quicksand.
Spokesperson Ann Midson said the district council had responded quickly to the safety concerns once they were raised.
"It is a bio-hazard area, there is no doubt about it," she said.
Whangarei District Council infrastructure manager Simon Weston said the biosolid dump had not been considered a problem in the past as it was in an area not often used by the public: "Attention has been drawn to an area that was out of sight in the past and it has become pretty clear that it needs a bit of a tidy up. We are repairing the bund this week, replacing tape that cordons off the area, and putting up new signs."
The Earth-Lab testing was ordered by Brian Smith, who owns Sustainable Waste Management, which operates a large composting plant at Ruakaka.
Mr Smith said he expected his actions to be viewed as "sour grapes and self-interest". He has failed in efforts to gain a district council contract to process its biosolid and green waste. However, he continued to complain because of concerns about public and environmental safety, he said.