An Auckland hydro vacuum excavation company has been convicted and fined for illegally dumping into a stormwater network.
Vac-U-Digga NZ was fined $28,125 by Environment Judge Jeff Smith in the Auckland District Court last Thursday for discharging contaminants into a waterway which flows into the Waitematā Harbour via the Whau River.
On September 17 last year, a former Vac-U-Digga NZ manager directed two staff to discharge 1000L of DOW Primal AC- 6501 R Acrylic Emulsion into a wash bay at the company’s Glendene branch in Culperry Road, rather than dispose of it at an appropriate disposal facility. The dumping turned 200 metres of the Whau River and a tributary milky white.
The prosecution was brought by the Auckland Council under the Resource Management Act 1991.
It comes after Auckland Mayor Phil Goff last year launched a crackdown on illegal dumping.
"This conviction sends a strong message that any individual or commercial outfit found pumping chemicals into our waterways and damaging our environment will be held to account," Mr Goff said in a statement today.
In handing down the sentence, Judge Smith acknowledged the company’s early guilty plea and cooperation with the council.
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