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Stopping leachate from an old dump site entering a Tauranga stream will cost the council nearly $1.5m to fix.

Tauranga City Council must carry out infrastructure upgrades to an old Cambridge Rd landfill site to comply with an abatement notice issued in July 2024 by the Bay of Plenty Regional Council.

The notice relates to unauthorised discharges of leachate and stormwater from a historic overflow landfill area at 278 Cambridge Road into the Kopurererua Stream.

The stream runs through the Kopurererua Valley, one of Australasia’s largest urban wetlands that is home to native birds and fish.

The council approved $1.49m for the upgrades at a meeting on Wednesday.

The money was not budgeted for as part of the council’s annual plan.

Council head of city operations Greg Steele said there was a “limited seasonal window” to complete the works to comply with the May 1 deadline.

The work included leachate and stormwater infrastructure, asbestos sampling and monitoring, project management, and contingency.

The work was essential to avoid legal penalties, reputational damage, and environmental harm, Steele’s report to the council said.

Kopurererua Valley is one of Australasia’s largest urban wetlands. Photo / Alex Cairns

If the council did not comply, it could be fined up to $600,000, there could be daily penalties for ongoing breaches and enforcement orders from the Environment Court.

The Cambridge Rd landfill, which was once Tauranga’s main refuse site, operated from the mid-1960s until 1998, when it closed.

In 2020, the nearby site at 278 Cambridge Rd was bought by the council because it was identified as an overflow landfill during the 1980s.

The purchase enabled the council to bring it under its existing discharge consents and prepare the entire site for resource consent renewal.

The 2024 abatement notice required the council to address the stormwater and leachate discharges.

Councillor Glen Crowther said the councillors had not seen the abatement notice.

Tauranga City Councillor Glen Crowther. Photo / David Hall

He asked how serious the issue was, because any leachate going into a stream was not good, and the council needed to stop it happening.

“With some abatement notices, there are major environmental repercussions. With others, it is a minor thing.

“Do we [the council] have some kind of understanding of what the impact of this has been and could be?”

Steele said staff could come back to the council with details of the environmental seriousness.

If the council did not proceed, there was the potential for prosecution, reputational damage, and the council needed to manage its closed landfills, he said.

Councillor Kevin Schuler asked if the site at 278 Cambridge Rd had any infrastructure around it and if the infrastructure for the wider site was working fine.

Steele confirmed this was correct.

Mayor Mahé Drysdale. Photo / David Hall

Mayor Mahé Drysdale asked why the full site investigation planned for this year had not been done earlier because it seemed “very large” costs could escalate.

Steele said the investigation related to the future works needed as part of the resource consent renewal process, because the current consent expired in 2030.

There was a risk of additional costs, but there was a budget to “keep things under control,” he said.

The council wasn’t working in a “greenfield situation,” he said.

Councillor Marten Rozeboom said the council “missed a step” because the notice was issued in 2024, so the funds should have been included in the annual plan budget.

Chief executive Marty Grenfell said it was originally budgeted for, but during the council’s reset, it was “mistakenly taken out” because there was a “belief” other funds would be available.

“In hindsight, we actually should have kept the money in there and asked for some further money for this specific project through the annual plan process.”

The council asked staff to find savings from the initial 2025/26 Annual Plan to reduce rates.

There was $29m in operational expenditure savings, including cutting the employee budget by $12.3 million, resulting in 98 job losses.

Tauranga City councillor Rod Taylor. Photo / David Hall

Councillor Rod Taylor said the council had identified a “slip up” that “dropped out of the system” and the council needed to get it done.

Crowther said the council had to do the work, whatever it cost, but staff would try to keep that as low as possible.

He wanted regular updates about the works and the wider site.

“This is something which I think is incredibly serious to have leachate going into that stream. I can see we will not be off the hook for this amount [of [$1.49m].”

Now the budget was approved, the council would finalise contracts and begin work, which was expected to take 14 weeks.

Progress would be monitored to ensure compliance with the May 1 deadline.

Local Democracy Reporting asked the council for the abatement notice and details of the environmental impact.

– LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.