'Cleaning Up' Mapua

Forest and Bird, Issue 297, 1 August 2000, Page 3

'Cleaning Up' Mapua

Helen Campbell,

The inset box in ‘Going to Court for Nature’ (February issue) noted that Nelson members were ‘involved in the cleaning up of one of New Zealand’s worst dumps of toxic substances. Would this were so! Resource consents were granted (1997) to Tasman District Council (TDC) to bund and cap this contaminated site at Mapua. The Tasman section of Forest and Bird (now Nelson/Tasman branch) appealed this decision as clearly such an unsustainable action could not be supported. What has happened since then? Not much. TDC may appreciate that the chemical factory site and the adjacent excounty landfill should be ‘cleaned up’ but councillors want ‘someone else’ (preferably the Government) to pay. The Council has many revenue streams, including rates, if there were a genuine commitment to ‘clean-up’ the site. Not only are the soil and groundwater on this 3.3 hectare site contaminated, so are the muds of the adjacent nationally important Waimea Estuary. The effects on the wildlife and marine life have never been determined. TDC is currently assessing different ‘clean-up’ technologies; the cost is likely to be the determining factor. The battle for the proper decontamination of the degraded soil and sediments has hardly begun. We require expert assistance in this highly specialised area of ‘persistent organic pollutant’ decontamination. Can anyone help?

maccam @ts.co.nz