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Land and water pollution

Pollution and the law

It is each company's responsibility to ensure that their activities comply with relevant legalisation. Non-compliance can have consequences for your business, both in terms of financial costs (such as fines and clean-up costs) and bad publicity.

Legal requirements for industry

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All businesses should be aware of the following environmental legislation and plans:

  • Resource Management Act (1991)
  • Hazardous Substances and New Organisms Act (1996)
  • Proposed Air Land and water Plan (Proposed ALW Plan).

Resource Management Act (1991)

The Resource Management Act 1991 (RMA) is New Zealand's environmental protection legislation. Under the RMA, the:

  • ARC is responsible for the management of the Auckland region's environment in order to protect natural habitats and resources and sustain them for future generations.
  • All individuals are responsible for ensuring that their activities do not result in pollution (Section 17), and any unauthorized discharges of contaminants to water, and to land where it may end up in water are prohibited (Section 15). Any unauthorized discharge to land from industrial or trade premises is prohibited whether or not it may end up in water. Companies should also be aware that they will ultimately be held responsible for any offence caused by an employee, contractor or agent (Section 340).

Tools used to enforce the RMA

The ARC uses various tools to enforce the RMA. These include:

  • education via publications and factsheets
  • a warning letter advising why a particular incident has breached the RMA
  • abatement notices requiring a person or business to stop an offending activity or take some action to ensure compliance
  • infringement fines of up to $1,000
  • prosecution which may result in imprisonment for a maximum term of two years or a fine of up to $200,000, with a further $10,000 for each day the offence continues
  • enforcement orders which are made by the Environment Court requiring a person or business to stop an offending activity or to do something necessary to ensure compliance with the RMA or mitigate or remedy any adverse effect on the environment.

Proposed Auckland Regional Plan: Air, Land and Water

Under the RMA, discharges to Auckland's environment must be authorised by the ARC. The Proposed Auckland Regional Plan: Air, Land and Water (Proposed ALW Plan) was prepared to assist in carrying out this function, and applies to the management of air, land and water resources within the region.

The ‘industrial or trade process' rules in the Proposed ALW Plan specify how businesses should manage their pollution risks, and focus on managing risks ‘at source' rather than relying on cleaning up after contamination has occurred.

Schedule 3 of the Proposed ALW Plan identifies industrial or trade processes that are considered high risk. These activities need an ‘industrial or trade process' consent to discharge contaminants onto or into land or water.

Although the ALW Plan is currently only a proposed plan, it can still be used to guide ARC's assessment of industry and applications for resource consents.

Transitional Regional Plan

Until the Proposed ALW Plan is finalised, the Transitional Regional Plan (TRP) is the operative plan for the Auckland region. The TRP consists of general authorisations (or permitted activities), and has no polices or objectives.

The following regional plans have also been produced by the ARC to carry out its functions under the RMA:

Hazardous Substances and New Organisms Act (1996)

The Hazardous Substances and New Organisms Act (1996) (HSNO) is an environmental and health and safety law aimed at protecting the health and safety of people, communities, and the environment. It does this by managing the adverse effects of hazardous substances and new organisms.

Is an environmental and health and safety law aimed at protecting the health and safety of people, communities, and the environment. It does this by managing the adverse effects of hazardous substances and new organisms.

Sites that store, use, or manufacture certain quantities of substances with harmful properties (e.g. flammable or toxic) must comply with relevant HSNO regulations.

For more information take this link to the Environmental Risk Management Authority website.

Local Government Act (2002)

It is ARC policy that costs associated with air, land or water pollution incidents, or non compliance with the RMA, must be borne by the party responsible and not by the ratepayer. The costs are payable under section 150 of the Local Government Act (2002) and may include officers' time for inspections, mileage, analytical fees and other expenses.

Environment Court

The Environment Court operates under the RMA, and considers appeals on council decisions on consents, proposed plans, policy statements and enforcement orders. Prosecutions under the RMA are heard in the District Court.

The operates under the RMA, and considers appeals on council decisions on consents, proposed plans, policy statements and enforcement orders. Prosecutions under the RMA are heard in the District Court.

The Environment Court's rulings have consistently confirmed three important points:

  1. companies and individuals are legally responsible for dealing with any foreseeable incidents that may occur while carrying out their activities. They have a legal duty to avoid, remedy and mitigate any harm to the environment resulting from their activity
  2. if daily exercises include the use, storage or transport of any substances capable of causing environmental harm, it is foreseeable that a spill of that substance will occur at some time
  3. if companies and individuals can demonstrate that they were adequately prepared to deal with a spill and took all the reasonable steps to clean up following an incident to minimise any harm to the environment, they are less likely to be punished by the court.

If you do not have a Spill Response Plan in place, you expose yourself to serious financial and legal risk.

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