Connecting the dots on water safety

Connecting the dots on water safety

Published HBT 26 June 2017

The horrific pictures of London’s Grenfell tower in flames with it’s doomed residents outlined in the windows has left us incredulous. No sprinklers, alarms that apparently were not working, and a highly inflammable composite cladding all contributed to a disaster that clearly was just waiting to happen. People are asking how could this happen in a leading first world city?

We have had our fair share of disasters in this country as well including Cave Creek, the collapse of the CTV and PGG buildings during the 2011 Christchurch earthquake, plus Pike River. All have resulted in considerable loss of life and like Grenfell just should not have happened in an advanced country like ours. Innocent people are dying through no fault of their own.

Our own gastro outbreak last year was clearly not in the same league but still 3 people died and over 5500 people became ill. We are now famous for what has turned out to be the worst campylobacter outbreak in the world.

All these tragedies were avoidable if only the dots had been connected. Some have been pointing at elected officials such as myself, and I ask what should I have done to avoid this event. I do remember back in 2015 asking about the seemingly endless flushes of chlorine I had noticed in the Havelock North water supply and was advised the system was being disinfected following maintenance work. To be honest this seemed reasonable but just maybe if I had dug further I might have discovered we were actually having regular but seemingly unconnected problems with e- coli. Actually I had never heard of campylobacter but during the enquiry I decided to google the word and there it was. Havelock North had experienced a quite serious outbreak in 1998 following a similar combination to last year of heavy rain and probable contamination of the aquifer with sheep manure.

It seems clear both here in Hawke’s Bay and elsewhere in New Zealand we have not been taking water safety seriously enough. So now, I am asking what other water issues are we not taking seriously enough? Of course some in our community have been making submissions to our council for years, but are only now starting to be heard.

One possible risk is the old Roys Hill rubbish dump one of at least three in Hawke’s Bay. Nearly 40 years ago when I came to to the area there was no land fill. We simply took our junk to the dump and left it there. Thousands of tonnes of trash, some domestic, some industrial including paint, batteries and oil products are still sitting where we dumped them, covered only by a concealing layer of soil, out of sight and out of mind. Whilst the Hastings District Council does have a monitoring programme I cannot remember the issue ever being seriously discussed by councillors. The question we must now ask is what is happening to all that material. Are we all waiting to be poisoned by damaging leachate slowly feeding into our water supply.

A second risk that is starting to concern me is the potential for run off into the unconfined aquifer from our roads and commercial buildings along Omahu Road. I have to admit being a strong supporter of these much needed job creating developments but now I am starting to worry about the risks involved.

Now I see yet another possible problem. Whilst I have been aware for several years that serious soil contamination has been causing delays getting some new housing areas in Hastings to market, only now am I now starting to appreciate the possible danger. The contamination I refer to is the result of lead arsenate sprays being used used to control codlin moth and other pests in the early years of orcharding. These are long lasting chemicals and HDC advises against growing vegetables or fruit trees on these soils and property developers must remove all contaminated soil before subdivision. Some of the resulting large piles of contaminated soil are now going to be used it to create noise dampening bunds along major roads.

Working in the media has given me heightened awareness of certain risks such as flooding, slips, subsidence, earthquake dangers and traffic hazards but now I realise just how many other things can affect our wellbeing. I do not intend to become paranoid about these dangers but I do intend to be much more committed to following up when I see things that do not look right.