A Huntly quarry fined $12,500 last year for illegal stormwater discharges has made substantial site improvements, Environment Waikato said today.
Huntly Quarries Ltd had paid $7500 of the fine to the Lower Waikato River Enhancement Society, the regional council's forestry and minerals programme manager Grant Blackie said.
At an Environment Court hearing
in Auckland District Court last October, Huntly Quarries Ltd and company director Ian Wedding pleaded guilty to nine charges of non-complying stormwater discharges and not guilty to non-compliance with abatement notice requirements.
Mr Wedding was discharged without conviction by Judge Fred McElrea.
The abatement notices charges were dismissed by the court due to an omission relating to the reasons for issuing the notices.
Minor changes had since been made to Environment Waikato's standard abatement notice wording, Mr Blackie said in a statement.
"The court was in no doubt the offending had an effect on the Waikato River from a higher level of sediment than normal runoff," he said.
The current poor appearance of the lower reaches of the river was to due cumulative effects of the quarry discharges, together with runoff from urban and rural land.
Mr Blackie said substantial site improvements had been undertaken by Huntly Quarry Ltd over the past 12 months to improve stormwater discharge.
- NZPA
