? Animal controller sits beside gorillas of the mist
?Slip up? in command chain at Waiwhetu
A major ?error of judgement? has tarnished the $14 million clean-up of Waiwhetu Stream, one of New Zealand?s most contaminated urban waterways. Wainuiomata Ward councillor Ray Wallace wants scientific proof the community is safe after soil contaminated with lead was dumped at a public tip in Wainuiomata. ?They took two truckloads of major contaminated soil to the clean-fill in October. ?That is what annoys locals the most; that they knew about it and did not tell us,? says Cr Wallace. At a meeting on 27 November concerned residents complained about the number of trucks dumping at the site, but were told the material was perfectly safe. However, tests ordered by Cr Wallace showed lead levels in the soil were twice the safe limit. ?The site manager knew it was there, but says he thought it was dealt with by contractors...it?s a major error of judgement on his part,? he says. In early November Waiwhetu Stream project manager John Isles told The Petone Herald all contaminated material would be transported to the Silverstream landfill, suited for holding toxic material. ?Extra precautions are being taken to ensure the delivery of the material to the site ... we have gone to great lengths to make sure there are no leaks or drips of any kind into the community,? Mr Isles said. He also warned, ?In clean up jobs like this there are always a lot of unknown factors involved?. Greater Wellington Regional Council has agreed to remove 15 truck loads from the tip and pay for independent scientific testing, putting financial strain on a project already well over budget. ?They have a detailed plan of where all the stuff was buried, so it?s not going to be like finding a needle in a hay stack,? says Cr Wallace. He says the Hutt City Council has ?spent a lot of money? preparing Silverstream for the contaminated material and ridding the stream of ?50 years of industrial neglect? is a huge positive for the community. ?Environmental standards have increased 100 fold in the last 10 years, and it?s a shame this has happened,? he says. Petone Community Board member Ross Jamieson says the incident has tarnished an otherwise important project. ?It?s an awful slip up of human error; someone has foolishly diverted this to the clean-fill tip,? says Cr Jamieson. Compared to 10 years ago ?taken as a whole? the monitoring of toxins in the community has improved leaps and bounds, he says. ?The [Waiwhetu] stream reportedly caught on fire once, its pollution level stacks up as one of the worst in the world. ?People have put their money where their mouth is over this project, and the manner in which it?s being done is very experimental.? The project ?raises the bar? for community concern over environmental issues, and helps to highlight the importance of dealing with toxins in the environment. He says Petone remains the industrial heart of Wellington but has ?high tech? standards of detecting toxic material.
