Fears for environment as old landfill leaks chemicals

A slow-moving plume of leachate from the old Levin landfill is making its way through groundwater to Hokio Stream at the rate of 7.5 metres a year.

There were "elevated levels" of chemicals, including ammonia, which needed to be watched closely, Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment Jan Wright told Horizons Regional Council yesterday.

Dr Wright issued a damning report in August.

In it, he made clear to Horowhenua District Council that it should comply with resource consent conditions and that Horizons should make enforcement a priority.

Consent conditions are being reviewed and the public is involved in that process.

Dr Wright's investigation was prompted by a series of complaints and consent breaches.

"We understand enforcement can be expensive, and it isn't easy, but there are steps you need to go through," she said.

The stream is about 300m from the landfill so it would take the plume about 40 years to infiltrate the water, which flows out into the sea.

This did not concern Horowhenua District Council chief executive David Ward, who attended yesterday's meeting.

"First and foremost, it is going seven-and-a-half metres a year; it has got several hundred metres to go before it gets to the stream.

"People may well read into that and say you've got to act immediately . . ."

But before it acts and tries to stop the travelling leachate plume, the council would need to ascertain the "potential environmental effects" and "consequences", Mr Ward said.

Drilling into the ground and taking leachate samples would be a priority, he said.

The plume might stop before it reaches the stream, he said.

"It is currently going through the ground, and in doing that it purifies itself."

Since the report the council had employed a fulltime solid waste manager to oversee the old unlined landfill.

It had also stepped up site monitoring, Mr Ward said.

Mayor Brendan Duffy said the old landfill complied with standards of the time and was a legacy that this generation had to deal with.

"It's a hole in the ground, like most landfills around New Zealand in early times.

"We've always been aware that with that sort of landfill there will be elements that will occur that we're not happy with.

"That's why we have a monitoring programme."

The council needed to grasp the actual effect the plume of leachate could have on the environment, he said. "We need to understand what the actual issue will be once this leachate reaches the stream."

The public would be consulted, he said.

"We always have the appropriate dialogue with those parties on which this issue might impact."

- © Fairfax NZ News