Council will act if health problem arises

The old maxim what comes first, the chicken or the egg, could well be invoked to solve a sewage-disposal problem near Pirinoa.
South Wairarapa District Council is willing to step into the argument over illegal dumping of septic tank waste on Maori land at Whakatomotomo, but only if a health problem arises because of it.
Otherwise the matter is classified as a discharge-to-land problem and that means jurisdiction rests on the shoulders of the Greater Wellington Regional Council.
Last week Sonny Te Maire, Maurice Tipoki and his wife Mary Tipoki went into print with a complaint that tonnes of virtually raw sewage had been spasmodically dumped on land bordering the Turanganui River.
The area is a peaceful, isolated area serviced by a gravel road that connects a handful of farms.
People living along the road had noticed tankers travelling past their properties from time to time, now known to be delivering the septic tank sludge to the land, in absentee ownership.
Mr Te Maire, who is chairman of the district's Maori standing committee, had the illegal dumping documented in committee minutes presented to the last meeting of the district council.
Yesterday, South Wairarapa Mayor Adrienne Staples said health protection officer Bronwyn Johnson and an engineering department staff member had been told of the dumping some time back and had paid a visit to the land.
They had been unable to find any evidence of dumped sewage despite traversing the paddocks twice over.
Mrs Staples said it made sense to visit Whakatomotomo again, this time in the company of local people who could point out where the sludge had been dumped.
She said discharge-to-land matters come under the umbrella of the regional council.
"But we would not stand by and let a health issue arise.
"If it is proved to be a health matter then we can take steps to do something about it, otherwise it's over to the regional council."
The regional council's pollution officer Geoff Ewington is out of Masterton and not available for comment.