Lower Waiwhakaiho Catchment Monitoring Programme Annual Report 2014-2015 Technical Report 2015-114 Taranaki Regional Council ISSN: 1178-1467 (Online) Private Bag 713 Document: 1620664 (Word) STRATFORD Document: 1661057 (Pdf) May 2016 Executive summary The Lower Waiwhakaiho River catchment monitoring programme addresses discharges by several consent holders in the Fitzroy area of New Plymouth. The report covers the period July 2014 – June 2015, and is the 22nd report for this combined monitoring programme. The Waiwhakaiho River catchment is significant for the Taranaki region. It is used for domestic, agricultural and industrial water supply, hydroelectric power generation, recreational purposes, and waste assimilation. It is important to local Maori people. Because of the pressure on the river, the Taranaki Regional Council (the Council) adopted a water management plan for the river in September 1991. At the end of the 2014-2015 monitoring period a total of 21 consents were held by the 13 industries monitored under this programme that discharge wastewater, stormwater and/or leachate from the industrial area at Fitzroy, New Plymouth to the lower Waiwhakaiho River and Mangaone Stream, or to land in the lower Waiwhakaiho and Mangaone Stream catchments. The activities and impacts of the consent holders upon water quality are discussed, as is the extent of their compliance with their permits, and their overall environmental performance. There is a separate report covering emissions to air within the catchment. During the year under review, the companies generally demonstrated a high level of environmental performance and a high level of administrative performance. The monitoring programme has included site inspections, discussions with site operators over site management, chemical surveys of discharges, groundwater and receiving waters, sediment sampling in the Mangaone Stream, and biomonitoring of the Waiwhakaiho River and Mangaone Stream. In the lower Waiwhakaiho River and Mangaone Stream, the biomonitoring surveys generally reported results that were similar to or better than long term historical medians. In the period under review it was found that all Waiwhakaiho River sampling sites generally recorded community richnesses similar to or slightly above long term medians for their respective sites. There was a typical downstream decrease in MCI scores between the sites, but these results did not indicate any significant effects of stormwater or wastewater discharges from the Fitzroy industrial area on the macroinvertebrate communities of the Waiwhakaiho River. The results from the Mangaone Stream exhibited the expected and typical downstream decrease in MCI scores, however there are signs of a potential improvement in the scores downstream of Taranaki Sawmills Limited and Ravensdown Fertiliser Co-operative Limited. There continued to be evidence of nutrient enrichment occurring in the lower Mangaone Stream. Chemical monitoring shows that stormwater from the fertiliser distribution depot (and old fertiliser works) presently owned and operated by Ravensdown Fertiliser Co- operative Limited, is still a source of nutrients. This enrichment is likely to be sufficient to encourage the formation of prolific algal growths in the lower Mangaone Stream, which may in turn affect the streambed fauna. Monitoring of groundwater and leachate in relation to the old landfill area off Bewley Road showed that with exception of one ammoniacal nitrogen result, all of the samples collected from the three monitoring bores complied with consent limits. There were three unauthorised incidents recorded that were associated with the consents covered by this report, one of which resulted in an infringement notice being issued. There were a further 11 incidents within the lower Waiwhakaiho industrial area, of which one was found to be breaching regional rules and resulted in an abatement notice being issued. During the year under review, the companies generally demonstrated a high level of environmental performance and a high level of administrative performance. During the period under review, AML Limited demonstrated a high level of administrative performance however an improvement was required in environmental performance and compliance. During the period under review as a result of the driveway sump not being kept clean, an illegal discharge occurred and an infringement notice was issued. During the period under review, the Downer EDI Works Limited demonstrated a high level of environmental and high level of administrative performance and compliance with the resource consents in relation to its site at Rifle Range Road. During the period under review, Farmlands Co-operative Society demonstrated a good level of environmental performance and high level of administrative performance and compliance with the resource consent in relation to its site on Katere Rd. During the period under review, Firth Industries Limited demonstrated a good level of environmental performance and a high level of administrative performance and compliance with the resource consent in relation to its Clemow Rd site. During the period under review, Fitzroy Engineering Group Limited demonstrated a high level of environmental performance and high level of administrative performance and compliance with the resource consents in relation to its site on Rifle Range Rd. During the period under review, Freight and Bulk Transport Holdings Limited demonstrated a high level of environmental performance and administrative performance and compliance with their resource consents in relation to its site on Katere Rd. During the period under review, the Nankervis Family Trust demonstrated a good level of environmental and high level of administrative performance and compliance with the resource consent in relation to its site on Dean Place. During the period under review, New Plymouth District Council demonstrated a high level of environmental performance and high level of administrative performance and compliance with its resource consents. During the period under review, New Zealand Decorative Concrete Limited demonstrated a high level of environmental performance and high level of administrative performance and compliance with the resource consents in relation to its Egmont Rd site. During the period under review, New Zealand Railways Corporation Limited demonstrated a high level of environmental performance and high level of administrative performance and compliance with the resource consents in relation to its Smart Rd site. Ravensdown Fertiliser Co-operative Limited demonstrated a good level of environmental performance and high level of administrative performance and compliance with the resource consents in relation to their site on Smart Rd. During the period under review, Taranaki Sawmills Limited demonstrated a good level of environmental performance and high level of administrative performance and compliance with the resource consents in relation to its site on Katere Rd. During the period under review, Technix Group Limited demonstrated a high level of environmental performance and high level of administrative performance and compliance with the resource consents in relation its sites on Rifle Range Rd. For reference, in the 2014-2015 year, 75% of consent holders in Taranaki monitored through tailored compliance monitoring programmes achieved a high level of environmental performance and compliance with their consents, while another 22% demonstrated a good level of environmental performance and compliance with their consents. This report includes recommendations for the 2015-2016 year. i Table of contents Page 1. Introduction 1 1.1 Compliance monitoring programme reports and the Resource Management Act 1991 1 1.1.1 Introduction 1 1.1.2 Structure of this report 1 1.1.3 The Resource Management Act (1991) and monitoring 2 1.1.4 Investigations, interventions, and incidents 2 1.1.5 Evaluation of environmental performance 3 1.2 Resource consents 5 1.3 Monitoring programme 12 1.3.1 Introduction 12 1.3.2 Programme liaison and management 12 1.3.3 Site inspections 12 1.3.4 Chemical sampling 13 1.3.4.1 Surface water surveys 13 1.3.4.2 Groundwater surveys 13 1.3.4.3 Streambed sediment sampling 16 1.3.5 Biomonitoring surveys 16 1.3.5.1 Macroinvertebrate surveys 16 1.3.5.2 Fish survey 16 2. AML Limited (trading as Allied Concrete) 17 2.1 Process description 17 2.2 Water discharge permit 18 2.3 Results 18 2.3.1 Inspections 18 2.3.2 Results of discharge monitoring 19 2.3.3 Investigations, interventions, and incidents 20 2.4 Discussion 20 2.4.1 Evaluation of plant performance 20 2.4.2 Environmental effects of exercise of consent 20 2.4.3 Evaluation of performance 21 2.4.4 Recommendation from the 2012-2014 Biennial Report 22 2.4.5 Alterations to monitoring programmes for 2015-2016 22 2.5 Recommendations 22 3. Downer EDI Works Limited 23 3.1 Process description 23 3.2 Water discharge permit 24 3.3 Results 24 3.3.1 Inspections 24 3.3.2 Results of discharge monitoring 25 3.3.3 Investigations, interventions, and incidents 26 3.4 Discussion 26 ii 3.4.1 Discussion of site performance 26 3.4.2 Environmental effects of exercise of consent 26 3.4.3 Evaluation of performance 26 3.4.4 Recommendation from the 2012-2014 Biennial Report 27 3.4.5 Alterations to monitoring programmes for 2015-2016 28 3.5 Recommendation 28 4. Farmlands Co-operative Society Limited 29 4.1 Process description 29 4.2 Water discharge permit 29 4.3 Results 30 4.3.1 Inspections 30 4.3.2 Results of discharge monitoring 30 4.4 Investigations,