Companies fined for muddying the waters
Two Canterbury businesses have been successfully prosecuted by Environment Canterbury for their part in allowing
sediment laden run-off from a building development to enter Duvauchelle Bay.
Both Sicon Ferguson Limited and Tresta Holdings Limited pleaded guilty at the Christchurch District Court in late June
to breaching the Resource Management Act and were fined a total of $52,500. A third company, Elliot Sinclair and
Partners Limited was found not guilty in relation to the same case.
“The plume of dirty water that was washed into Duvauchelle Bay last May was a direct result of these companies
disregarding good advice and not taking the appropriate steps to lessen the risk posed by forecasted poor weather,” says
Kim Drummond, Director for Resource Management at Environment Canterbury.
“They had been warned of the potential for the discharge and had had a similar one previously, but still they did not
take adequate measures to prevent it happening again. Erosion and sediment control is a critical factor in any works
near water and they neglected to follow the plans laid out which would have stopped this from happening.”
Judge J J M Hassan noted during sentencing that the primary cause of the offence was the errors of judgement made.
“Neither Sicon or Tresta sought to deliberately pollute the environment. However, in various respects each of you
demonstrated deliberateness in departing from your legal obligations.
“With large earthworks projects in challenging and sensitive environments such as this, there is clearly a need for
diligence in project management and well systemised adherence to environmental controls.” The judge went on to add that
the temptation to put environmental protection second must be strongly resisted.
Kim Drummond hopes the outcome of this case proves a timely reminder to others involved in these kinds of building
developments that they have obligations to the community and the environment that they need to meet.
“Having inadequate erosion and sediment control practices that result in the kind of incident we saw in Duvauchelle Bay
is just not acceptable. We don’t like to see our waterways treated this way and if we find it happening we’ll take those
responsible to task over it.
“We have developed a number of programmes to help the industry, including the Builders Pocket Guide which responds to
the expected increase in earthworks and supports the objectives of Canterbury Water Management Strategy and Earthquake
Recovery. We also have staff whose role it is to develop strong working relationships with contractors, providing
advice, support and encouragement for them to actively manage the environmental risks.”
During sentencing Judge Hassan recognised the associated cultural impact this incident had on local iwi Te Rununga o
Ōnuku and took this into consideration along with the ecological effects. Scion was deemed comparatively more culpable
and fined $30,000, while Tresta was fined $22,000.
ENDS