BayBuzz videographer Patrick O’Sullivan interviews key stakeholders concerned with the deteriorating condition of the Ahuriri Estuary and — perhaps — finally mobilising with sufficient commitment to save it.
Is rescue coming for the Ahuriri Estuary?
3 Comments
Thank you, Baybuzz, for putting the health of Te Whanganui a Orotu/Ahuriri Estuary under the spotlight again.
The wheels turn so slowly.
It’s good to highlight the new subdivision above Taradale. In the early days of that plan our group was told the Stormwater was going to be directed behind the subdivision into the countryside, perhaps a dam. So much for that idea. Now it’s all directed into waterways in to the estuary. A big pond has been built below on Puketitiri Rd, already experiencing erosion on its banks from recent rain. And an elegant rock gutter down the road side that doesn’t look as if it would hold much in heavy rain therefore spilling on to the road and into stormwater drains. So much for ‘less sediment’. Seeing all that exposed soil in the video makes me ask the question ‘is it going to be covered in ashphalt or will the council follow their 2018 Masterplan ideas of some kind of permeable surface to absorb water?’. Once again, is the estuary health going to the bottom of priorities in the name of progress?
You will never be able to improve water quality whilst storm water from housing and industrial land is directed into the estuary. With both increasing the problem will only get worse. I have seen the same thing happen to an estuary on the North Shore of Auckland where I used to live, and don’t be sucked in to the idea that wetlands will purify the runoff. From an article, that I have read, wetland set up for this purpose in China resulted in a contaminated wetland and migrating birds eggs becoming infertile due to the contaminants of the aquatic and plant life on which they fed.
Update: I made a mistake. My apologies. With the new subdivision in the hills, there is a mixture of stormwater directed back into the hills and some directed to the flat at the back of Greenmeadows. I guess ultimately what goes to the hills arrives in the estuary?? Do correct me if I’m wrong.