The Environment Court has ordered developers and the home-owner of an Auckland property to pay tens of thousands of dollars for discharging sediment into the stormwater system.
Builders were caught breaching resource consent conditions requiring proper control of the sediment works on a work site in Remuera, Auckland. Photo: Supplied / NIWA
The builders were working on a property in Spencer Street, Remuera, when they were caught breaching resource consent conditions requiring proper control of the sediment works on the site.
The offending happened through July and October last year, as they ignored the council's abatement notices ordering them to stop.
A total fine of $67,800 was issued - the construction company Brother Development Limited has been ordered to pay $35,625; the site manager Jie Ma has been fined $21,375, and Han Sun, the son of the Spencer Street home-owner, has been fined $10,800.
Judge Jeff Smith described the offending in his judgment as a "gross violation" of the council's repeated abatement notices ordering them to stop.
"Over a period of some four months, sediment-laden waters which were discharged from the site into the street found their way into the public drain and then into the waterways and harbour areas adjacent," he said.
"They clearly contained excessive levels of sediment and were inadequately controlled."
Auckland Mayor Phil Goff said the city was investing significantly to improve Auckland's water quality.
"It's absolutely unacceptable for developers to be knowingly and repeatedly polluting our streams and waterways."