A thoughtless act has cost a Christchurch painting contractor dearly, after a pollution spill was discovered on Wednesday night by Wanaka community Board chairman Bill Gordon.

"Mr Gordon reported the spill at 5.30pm after noticing that the Albert Town lagoon was 'heavily slicked and opaque'. The spill was then attended by Lakes Contract Services," CivicCorp monitoring and compliance principal Tim Francis said.

Mr Gordon discovered a painting and plastering company was washing equipment into the gutter on Lagoon Avenue, seemingly oblivious to the fact that the wash was running into the mud tank and overflowing out into the lagoon.

Lakes Contract Services staff spoke with the contractor and attended to the spill, which dissipated within a short period of time. The contaminant was found to be water based paint.

"I undertook interviews with the company on Thursday morning and in this case the foreman responsible for the activities of the painters on the site acknowledged responsibility for the incident and accepted a fine of $750 for contravention of the pollution provisions of the Resource Management Act 1991," Mr Francis said.

The foreman and the company offered a full apology for the incident and planned to ensure all staff were aware of the consequences of such a thoughtless and costly act, he said.

"This incident should serve as a reminder to everyone that in this pristine environment, stormwater systems eventually run off into our waterways. If you put anything down the drain you risk damaging the eco system and causing permanent damage," Mr Gordon said.

The major new stormwater infrastructure project currently underway in Wanaka to discharge stormwater away from Lake Wanaka was partly in recognition of the council?s awareness of the risk posed by incidents such as this, Mr Gordon said.

ENDS

For more information please contact Tim Francis 03 450 0354

By: Tamah