Iwi want effluent lake threat gone

MURRAY WILSON/Manawatu Standard

IMPORTANT TAONGA: Vivienne Taueki of Muaupoko iwi talks about her battle with Horowhenua District Council and the possible pollution of Lake Horowhenua.

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Lake Horowhenua was polluted when treated effluent seeped from Levin's waste water treatment plant during the July deluge, local iwi claim.

Muaupoko Co-operative Society member Vivienne Taueki said she watched the lake, that she once swam in as a child, become polluted once again.

"We went down there and had a look for ourselves.

"We saw it going into the lake with our own eyes, we're not stupid."

This was before treated effluent was diverted into a makeshift pond paddock next to the plant, Ms Taueki said.

"We could see it running straight down the drain into the lake.

"We rang council and left a message that if there was going to be a breach could they let us know and keep us informed."

Ms Taueki was not kept in the loop and met with Horowhenua District Council staff a month after the spillage.

She asked for test results from the lake and surrounding land.

"We walked away with nothing but a promise that we would get the data that was required."

Two months down the track she has not received any results.

The council's chief executive, David Ward, was "absolutely staggered" by Ms Taueki's claims treated effluent spilled into the lake.

He said they could not release any results because they might be used as evidence in court, and he could not say whether the results indicated the lake was polluted.

"I would prefer not to comment because of the fact that the matter could potentially be in front of the Environment Court."

The council lodged an appeal two weeks ago to the Environment Court against an abatement notice issued by Horizons Regional Council in July to cease any unauthorised discharges from the treatment plant.

The council also applied for retrospective consent for emergency measures it took to try to prevent contamination of the lake during the flooding.

But Ms Taueki said she had been trying desperately for the council to remove the threat of effluent spilling into the lake for decades.

"Until that's removed we can't even begin to heal from the '98 overflow, and now we have this one. It's just absolutely shocking.

"The fact is that in '98 they were reasonably aware that within 10 years this was going to happen again and that really is the focus."

She was a member of the last Sewage Working Party, which recommended council form the 2002 sewage strategy.

"That treatment plant has been leaching shit into the lake via underground waters forever," Ms Taueki claimed. Ultimately she wanted the plant moved away from the lake.

"It's already a eutrophic [mineral rich] lake, this is our most important taonga that we have kaitiaki for and we really must protect this because if that lake dies then so do we in a sense."

The lake provided generations with food and was the heart of Muaupoko.

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