The strategy to have stock effluent discharge on Waikato and King Country roads reduced to zero by 2020 has taken another leap forward.
A new stock truck effluent disposal facility will open in Te Kuiti this week. It has been designed and built by Waitomo district council, with funding from the Waikato regional council and NZTA.
The new facility will be officially opened on Thursday, March 20 by Mayor Brian Hanna.
It will provide 24/7 truck access and is located in Cotter Street, just off Waitete Road (State Highway 30), and is immediately adjacent to the Te Kuiti Sale Yards.
The Waitomo district council will manage its ongoing operation and maintenance.
“This facility in Te Kuiti will cater for trucks attending sale days and transporting stock to the local meat works, and will require only a short detour for trucks travelling on State Highway 3,” says Mayor Hanna.
“Because it’s so accessible to truck operators, it should help to reduce spills of stock effluent onto our roads from heavily loaded stock trucks,” he says.
Effluent is spilled onto the road from stock trucks when the holding tanks are deliberately discharged or accidentally overflow. This can cause traffic crashes by making roads slippery or by causing spatter on to windscreens.
Discharge is also a health hazard for cyclists, motorcyclists and pedestrians, and causes smelly and unsightly pollution on highways and road sides. Uncontrolled discharges of effluent can cause environmental problems if the effluent enters waterways.
There is one in-transit effluent dumping site in the Waikato, on SH5 at Tapapa, and there are now five at or near sale yards in Te Kuiti, Morrinsville, Taupo, Matamata and Tuakau.
Two further high-priority locations for in-transit disposal facilities are being progressed, with three other sites under investigation, near Putaruru and on SH27 near the Tahuna Road roundabout. Other in-transit facilities are to be investigated in Taupo and Ngaruawahia, as well as another one near Te Kuiti.
