Bad smell soon to disappear

As work has begun to decommission the Eltham Eader the rancid smell of buttermilk will soon be gone, however, South Taranaki District (STDC) councillor Alex Ballantyne says a bad taste will be left behind in some residents mouths.

The smell, which was caused by Fonterra dumping more than three million litres of milk byproduct into the Eltham Eader in 2013, has caused numerous environmental and health issues with neighbouring residents.

Alex says he is "very unhappy" that the council has approved a capital budget, to come from the wastewater activity budget, of $260,000 to go towards decommissioning the Eltham Eader meaning that it will be a direct cost to ratepayers.

"I'm not happy at all that the cost for this will come from all separately-rated ratepayers when it could easily have been funded from the general surplus" says Alex.

At the STDC meeting on February 23, councillors discussed whether the cost should be treated as a capital expenditure and take out a loan that could be repaid from the wastewater account or to pay for the work from anticipated surpluses in the 2014-15 year. Alex says that he believes the cost should have come from the surplus, "and thus sent a genuine message of apology from those responsible for this disaster".

Mark Kelly, spokesperson for the Eltham Eader Action Group, agrees adding "the rate payers were not responsible for the dumping of the buttermilk, it is not their responsibility to pay to clean up the mess".

STDC group manager of engineering services Brent Manning says that while the milk waste incident has been a catalyst for the decommissioning of the eader, it is not the reason behind it. "Council had always planned to decommission the Eader sometime in the next 5-10 years because there was no further use for the facility. The recent events have simply brought our plans forward a bit earlier than originally anticipated."

Mark says "those in charge seem to think if they empty the Eader everything will be okay again. That is not the case". While the South Taranaki District Council plead guilty to one charge of discharging contaminants, Mark says the group is looking for heads to roll, "those responsible need to held accountable for their actions".

The decommissioning of the eader will be completed by Whitaker Civil Engineering, with an estimated completion date by June.

Alex says "the whole situation could definitely have been handled differently from the beginning. It's been a disaster for this council and particularly for the neighbours who have had to endure the effects for nearly eighteen months. Hopefully it will be finally all over for them soon".