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Fonterra blames valve for spilling 170,000 litres of milk into Tasman sea
28 Jan, 2021 09:12 PM
4 minutes to read
RNZ
Fonterra is blaming an open valve for a spill of 170,000 litres of skim milk into the Tasman Sea from its Whareroa plant in Taranaki.
The leak left globules of fat dispersed along the foreshore of Ōhāwe and Waihi beaches, near Hāwera.
In a similar mishap in 2008, the dairy giant spilt 110,000 litres of skim milk into the ocean from the same plant.
Scum on the beach in Taranaki from skim milk discharged in September 2008. Photo / RNZ
Fonterra s general manager for lower North Island operations, Tony MacLean, said the November fault caused milk to overwhelm the plant s wastewater system.
A similar incident occurred at the plant in 2008.
Photo: RNZ / YouTube
The leak left globules of fat dispersed along the foreshore of Ohawe and Waihi beaches, near Hāwera.
In a similar mishap in 2008, the dairy giant spilt 110,000 litres of skim milk into the ocean from the same plant.
In a statement, Fonterra s general manager for lower North Island operations, Tony MacLean, said the November fault caused milk to overwhelm the plants wastewater system. A valve on a pipe that we transfer milk through opened, releasing milk into the waste water drain instead of it reaching its intended location of another milk silo.
A valve on a pipe that we transfer milk through opened, releasing milk into the waste water drain instead of it reaching its intended location of another milk silo. As soon as we became aware of the leak, we stopped the transfer of the milk. However our current waste water system could not cope with the unexpected large volume so the milk overflowed into our ocean outfall. The Taranaki Regional Council and iwi were notified immediately. Maclean said skim milk was soluble in water and an inspection of the outfall shortly after the spill showed no milk in the sea. However, Fonterra staff were sent to remove visible fat deposits from the Ohawe and Waihi beaches.