By ANNE BESTON
A dairy factory that processes half of New Zealand's milk had a 10-year history of pollution problems and could be blamed for continuing contamination of the Manukau Harbour, the Environment Court heard yesterday.
New Zealand Dairy Foods was fined $15,000 for a milk spill into the Pahurehure Inlet
in the upper harbour in September last year.
The factory had 12 visits from Auckland Regional Council officers last year to investigate contamination.
Dairy Foods pleaded guilty to one charge of polluting the Pahurehure Inlet and one charge of breaching a legal order issued two months before the spill.
The company processes 18 million litres of milk a month at the South Auckland factory.
After last year's incidents, ARC pollution officers carried out an inspection of the site.
They found cesspits contaminated with unidentified wastes; pallets of food products and a bin of waste food products, some in damaged packaging, stored on top of and near a stormwater cesspit; and leakage of a cleaning agent, milky water and overflows from a rubbish compactor into stormwater cesspits.
ARC staff estimated that the amount of milk which escaped into a freshwater pond bordering the site was enough to contaminate 8 million litres of clean water.
Milk is toxic to aquatic life once it gets into waterways because it depletes oxygen. A sample taken after the discharge showed the pond had the same oxygen demand levels as raw sewage.
Appearing for Dairy Group, Derek Nolan said the company had embarked on a $700,000 programme to improve wastewater treatment at the site.
He said it was a first offence for Dairy Foods. Its parent company, New Zealand Dairy Group, and subsidiary Anchor Products both had convictions under the Resource Management Act for contamination but they were separate companies.
Prosecuting for the ARC, Steve Bonnar said Dairy Foods had to take the blame for on-going degradation of the inlet over the past 10 years.
