13 Aug 2018

Hawke's Bay council taken to court over effluent pollution

From Morning Report, 7:17 am on 13 August 2018

A Hawke's Bay businessman, Simon Lusk, is taking the regional council to the Environment Court over its failure to regulate feedlots he says are polluting the district. Mr Lusk says the practice -where animals are fattened up over winter in confined paddocks -is in breach of the council rules, because of the damage the cows and their effluent cause to the soil and groundwater. Despite vowing to crack down on the practice 18 months ago, the Hawke's Bay Regional Council says it still has no idea how many feedlots are operating, but agrees the rules may need to change. RNZ Hawke's Bay reporter Anusha Bradley has the story.