Legal advice sought on tips

Press, 30 May 1981, Page 6

Legal advice sought on tips

; The North Canterbury Catchment Board will seek legal advice on whether to proceed with an injunction to stop three Christchurch refuse tips being used for general waste disposal. The board’s regional water engineer, Mr M. J. Bowden, told the water committee yesterday that excluding the dumping of material other than hardfill and demolition material was the only effective way of controlling the risk of contamination of underground water. The tips concerned are the. John’s Road tip, the Rhodes tip in Halswell Junction Road, and the McTeigues ROad tip. The latter tip, run by Mr K. McGrath, is still in use. The other two have been temporarily closed as a result of action taken by the Paparua and Waimairi county councils. The John’s Road and McTeigues Road tips are the subject of applications to the Paparua County Council for offensive trade licences under the Health Act, 1956. Application granted An application by a Christchurch eel-exporting firm, Independent Fisheries, Ltd, to increase its water supply was granted by the board’s standing tribunal. The company sought an increase in its existing water right of three litres a second to four litres; a second, the

extra water to come from two wells on the company’s Woolston property. In granting the application, the tribunal dismissed objections by the Lyttelton Borough, the Christchurch City Council, and the Heathcote County Council which were concerned that the wells would increase the risk of contamination of the underground water supply. Working party The water committee resolved to set up a working party to investigate highcountry lakes and water quality. The group will include one board member, Dr B. P. J. Molloy, and representatives of the z’bology and botany departments at. the University of Canterbury, the Wildlife Division of the Internal Affairs Department, the Freshwater Fisheries Research Division of the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, and the North Canterbury Acclimatisation Society. The high-country branch of Federated: Farmers will also be invited to contribute. ,

The working party’s investigations will include the development in each lake catchmennt, risks to catchment uses, physical characteristics and wildlife populations of lakes, and controls and policies to protect water quality. / '