Chapter 15 - Discharge of Contaminants to Land 15.0 Discharge of Contaminants to Land 15.1 Introduction The discharge of contaminants to land is controlled under Section 15 of the Resource Management Act. Section 15 states that no person may discharge any contaminant into or onto land in circumstances which may result in the contaminant or any other contaminant entering water, unless it is expressly permitted by a rule in the Plan or Proposed Plan, a resource consent, or regulations. Section 30(c)(ii) of the Act requires regional councils to control the use of land for the purpose of maintaining and enhancing water quality. This section sets out the issues, objectives, policies and methods which will enable the adverse environmental effects associated with the discharge of contaminants to land to be avoided, remedied or mitigated such that the life supporting capacity of soil, water and air is protected. It should be noted that the discharge of hazardous substances has not been listed above because it is covered separately in Chapter 18 of the Plan. 15.2 Issue The discharge of contaminants to land may create adverse effects on water quality, the life supporting capacity of the soils and amenity values In the Wairau/ Awatere area there are many activities which involve the discharge of contaminants to land. Generally the discharge of contaminants arises from the disposal of solid, liquid or gaseous material, generally in the form of waste. However, contaminants are also discharged through the application of agrichemicals and from day to day land use activities. Some specific examples of activities which discharge contaminants are: • Disposal of agricultural effluent from dairy sheds, piggeries, and pastoral farming; • Disposal of animal waste in offal pits; • Disposal of agrichemicals from animal dips; • Leachate from agricultural production; • Application of agrichemicals including pesticides, herbicides and fertilisers; • Disposal of agricultural and industrial processing waste (eg. apples, vegetable, cheese); • Discharge of sediments from cropping and stock trampling adjacent to water bodies; 15 - 1