Local Fishermen in Gore are concerned with the Southland Regional Councils apparent lack of concern with sewerage spillages into the Mataura River.
Complaints to the Council have fallen on deaf ears.
When Council staff has been called and have visited the site where the sewerage is leaking into the river they have denied that the leakage contains sewerage even when it is visible with toilet paper and tampon visible.
The problem lies with the settling ponds located on the northern side of the river, one of which is believed to be leaking. In fact it is also understood this pond is non-compliant and doesn’t even have resource consent.
When the river level is high because of high rainfall, excess stormwater is pumped into the settling ponds which are then allowed to overflow into the river.
This overflow carries with it untreated sewerage.
On another occasion the pipeline being drilled under the Mataura River from the Dairy Factory hit a quartz rock and was deflected out into a local farmer’s paddock. When the farmer detected the problem and found that raw sewerage had escaped into his paddocks and into the Mataura River Council staff was on the spot really quickly but then denied that there was any sewerage present.
