The question of how a lake of butter milkfat on an Atiamuri farm will be disposed of safely is still awaiting answers from the landowner, dairy company Fonterra and the Waikato Regional Council.
The butter milkfat came from Fonterra’s overloaded processing factories in Waikato and Bay of Plenty.
The Waikato Regional Council said that what appeared to be hundreds of thousands of litres of a milky liquid had been transported to a gully-shaped depression on the Tram Rd property by trucks for the past two weeks.
After being alerted to the situation this week by the Waikato Times, the council investigated and found the gully was «lined and sealed» and did not present a threat to the environment.
The farm supplies Fonterra, which, pressed last night for detailed information, said it had a milk volume «contingencies» arrangement with the landowner and that it had assurances that the Tram Rd property could be used for storage and disposal of byproduct.
The dairy company, pressed further, said the byproduct was butter milk.
The Fonterra spokeswoman would not say how much had been taken to the farm. It had been delivered there from «central North Island plants including Te Rapa and Edgecombe», she said.
Waikato and North Island milk production is running at full steam this spring thanks to good weather and robust pasture growth. Spring milk production is expected to exceed last year’s bumper spring by at least 5 per cent, with some Waikato farmers reporting a jump of 20 per cent in production.
The season’s peak production day is expected to be this week, stretching processing factory capacity to the limit.
Regional council investigations manager Patrick Lynch said it appeared the liquid had been «placed» in a «natural topography» holding facility originally lined with clay for effluent disposal from a milking shed which was never built.
Lynch said Fonterra and the landowner had an agreement to put the milk byproduct there, and while the council could not contact the landowner, it had been established by regional council staff there was no threat to the environment, and no waterways or surface water were involved.
However, the council was «very keen» to find out the landowner’s plans for disposing of the milky waste, Lynch said.
Source: Stuff
