7.2 Current Practice in the Regulation of two-Pond System Discharge
A Council-by-Council overview of the activities of eight Councils in controlling DSW management is presented in the notes from the "Dairy Shed Waste Management Regional Councils' Forum, 1992" (WRC, (1992).
Currently discharge of DSW treated by a two-pond system is either a permitted activity or a controlled activity under transitional rules of Regional Councils. That is, the amount of regulation and bureaucracy associated with two-pond systems is kept to a minimum.
In the four regions looked at for this report, all the Councils were seriously involved in investigating impacts of two-pond effluent discharge, inspecting and monitoring two-pond systems for compliance with regulations, and signalling to the farming community that improvement in pollution control management of DSW is expected.
Inspection and control of two-pond systems by all Councils is aimed at ensuring that sizing, siting, installation, and maintenance requirements are met. The presumption is that ponds that satisfy these requirements will produce an effluent that is acceptable for discharge. The level of interest and activity shown by Councils in inspection and enforcement can be strongly influenced by the efforts and thinking of individual Council officers.
It is evident from the experience of the Taranaki Regional Council that a relatively high proportion of two-pond systems fail to comply with sizing, installation, and maintenance standards for two-pond systems unless effort is put into control by rigorous consent procedures, diligent inspection and clear and definite application of enforcement procedures.
Common problems encountered with two-pond systems in all regions are:
- failure to ensure that ponds will seal, or are sealed at installation,
- Failure to divert stormwater drainage or surface runoff from ponds, or to site or seal the ponds to prevent groundwater infiltration,
- increase in herd size beyond what the pond system was sized for,
- crusting allowed to build up to a thick,
- solid mass that interferes with flow,
- de-sludging neglected until the pond is totally clogged,
- outlet baffle from anaerobic pond allowed to clog or fall into disrepair
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