Clean up of Wellington beach toxic dump site cost nearly $1 million
Photo:
RNZ / Nick James
Cleaning up an old toxic dump site on a Wellington beach has cost nearly a million dollars.
In late 2021, a member of the public told local authorities they could see asbestos on a bank at Te Raekaihau Point, which sits between Lyall Bay and Princess Bay, an area popular for walkers, runners and cyclists.
The council did investigations of the site in July 2022 and August 2023 which found evidence of asbestos, oil, heavy metals, zinc, arsenic and lead.
They said it appeared the area was used for sand extraction in the 1930s, with it being back filled with waste likely in the 1950s or 60s.
Earlier this year RNZ reported that the council would
excavate, wrap and move to the material
to the southern landfill, due to the area being at risk of erosion and storm surges that could have led to it leaking.
Over three weeks in May that work was done, which also included the relocation of native lizards called Mokomoko and digging up 2,200 tonnes of waste.
Wellington City Council has confirmed to RNZ that the work costed nearly $1 million with half of it being paid for by the government through the $30 million
Contaminated Sites and Vulnerable Landfills Fund
announced in October.
A council marine and coastal project manager Joel De Boer told RNZ he was aware that there may be more sites like this around the city.
"A lot of them will already be covered, some of them may already be capped over and it may not be until you know a point in time when they become exposed that action will be taken."
De Boer said it was not a not cheap job to clean these dumpsites up so the council's job was about reacting to them when it could.
He said that from his conversations with the Ministry of Environment there were many sites like this across New Zealand.
A site validation report which would determine the final levels of any contaminants was being finished and would be peer reviewed over the next few weeks.
The council expected it to show the area was safe.
Throughout the Wellington region there are more than 100 closed landfill sites, many of which lay under popular parks and reserves.
When RNZ first reported on the South Coast site in January environment scientist Dr Jeff Seadon said it was not surprising.
"What we've got is something in the order of hundreds if not thousands of these sites around New Zealand. A lot of these sites are known by councils, but there are also a lot that are still unfound or undetected."
Seadon said during the 19th and 20th centuries, waste was often dumped because it was convenient and created some extra land. He said with larger storm surges and sea level rise, these dumps were being swept out and exposed.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
RNZ News
an hour ago
- RNZ News
Celebrating one hundred years of Rural Women New Zealand
This story takes us back to 1925 in Wellington where, at tea-party for wives of delegates to a Farmers' Union meeting, sixteen women agreed on the need for their own organisation. The inaugural meeting of the Women's Division of the New Zealand Farmers' Union was held the following morning, 28 July 1925 - one hundred years ago today. While there's since been a name change to Rural Women New Zealand, the organisation continues to play a vital contribution to supporting and advocating for women and the farming communities. Sandra Mathews is the president of Rural Women New Zealand speaks to Jesse. Tags: To embed this content on your own webpage, cut and paste the following: See terms of use.
NZ Herald
2 hours ago
- NZ Herald
Agrivoltaics: Waiuku farm combines solar panels with grazing livestock
Running the 48ha property has deepened her appreciation for farmers working to improve soil and water quality, while trying to maintain a profitable business. A desire to be outside and working with animals was part of the appeal for the Upchurches coming home as well. 'This farm is where I grew up, so it was a real coming home for me,' Merrin Upchurch said. 'When we were living in Europe in Amsterdam, I really missed the animals and being outside.' The couple started raising pigs, as Merrin Upchurch's mum Judy had planted a lot of fruit and nut trees. The pigs graze below and hoover up the excess windfall produce. They have a handful of breeding sows, a boar and young 'boar-to-be', and when Country Life visited, two litters of six piglets each. 'There was huge demand for the Berkshires because they've got a great rep,' Nigel Upchurch explained. 'They're known as the Wagyu of the pork world, and they are beautiful meat, nicely marbled, delicious, quite frankly.' Merrin Upchurch said the domestic pork industry had taken a hammering because it was cheaper to import from overseas, where many countries had less stringent welfare standards. 'There's nothing better than your own pork,' she said. 'Fattened on chestnuts and free-range like this, it's a completely different type of meat.' Six hungry piglets enjoy their breakfast. Photo / RNZ, Gianina Schwanecke The pigs are also fed food scraps from a thrice-weekly run to the local supermarket, which helps add nutrients back into the soil. Woodchips from fallen and felled trees on the property are added where the pigs roam during the winter months to reduce mud and absorb excess nitrogen. 'With the amount of produce we're bringing into the pig areas, there's actually quite a bit of nutrient coming into the areas,' Merrin Upchurch said. The pigs are also fed food scraps from a thrice weekly run to the local supermarket, which help add nutrients back into the soil. Photo / RNZ, Gianina Schwanecke 'This farm was actually run as an organic property for about 15 years, and so the inputs that have been added to the property in terms of fertiliser have all been natural products.' Rotating stock, including young mobs of heifers up to 200kg, also helps, as the cattle eat down the tougher grass the pigs don't like to eat. The couple aim to run the farm with as few external inputs as possible, with hopes to see it eventually become carbon-neutral, if not a carbon sink. The couple also run pigs. Photo / Gianina Schwanecke, Country Life It's why, over 18 months ago, they added more than 3000 solar panels across 3ha of the farm. It's the first solar farm built and operated by Lightyears Solar. Lightyears Solar owns the panels and leases the land from the Upchurches. It operates the single-access tracking system, which sees the panels follow the sun, Lightyears Solar co-founder and head of development Matt Shanks said. Woofers Tommy Falconer (left) and Tilly Millson (second from left) have been helping the Upchurches with feeding stock and planting native trees. Photo / RNZ, Gianina Schwanecke 'It works better with the livestock.' The farm generates enough energy to power between 600-700 homes near Waiuku, about 2.4 megawatts or 2400 kilowatts. Even on a grey, drizzly winter day, as it was when Country Life paid a visit, the panels still generate about 25% of their usual production. It's an example of agrivoltaics, the practice of simultaneously using land for solar energy production and agriculture, such as growing crops or grazing stock beneath the panels. As one of the first large agrivoltaic set-ups in New Zealand, there was a lot of 'learning along the way', Shanks said. Agrivoltaic operations are still at the experimental stage in New Zealand and typically include smaller grazing animals such as sheep, so running young cattle has added challenges. The couple run mobs of young heifers, up to about 200kg, under the solar panels across 3ha on the farm. Photo / Gianina Schwanecke, RNZ Shanks recalled running experiments with bamboo poles across the paddock to work out the height needed to be able to run cattle below. The answer? About 1.6m off the ground, so the heifers are unable to cause mischief by eating the wires. The dual land use with young cattle grazing beneath has made the farm more profitable. Lightyears Solar co-founder and head of development Matt Shanks (left) and farmer Nigel Upchurch. Photo / Gianina Schwanecke, Country Life 'Per hectare, this is now the most profitable part of the farm,' Nigel Upchurch said. It aligns with the couple's values and has also added environmental benefits. The solar panels provide shelter for the stock on wet, wintry days and during the heat of summer. 'This summer and autumn was really dry, and we actually noticed the grass was greener under the panels, so we're getting less water evaporation,' Merrin Upchurch noted. While power generated from the farm currently goes back into the grid, the couple hope they will soon be able to run the farm and their house from the solar panels. 'Something we're really keen on is reducing the carbon footprint of the property,' Merrin Upchurch said. In the meantime, new farms are going up around the country, maximising the amount of limited land for solar farms. Lightyears Solar has developed new ones in Canterbury and Wairarapa, with hopes to continue. – RNZ
RNZ News
2 hours ago
- RNZ News
More Pasifika households denied emergency housing
Manaaki Rangatahi marked World Homeless Day 2024 on October 10 with impactful art activations led and inspired by rangatahi. Photo: Manaaki Rangatahi A new report on homelessness in Aotearoa shows more Pasifika families were denied emergency housing due to ineligibility than were accepted in the month of March. Te Tūāpapa Kura Kāinga - Ministry of Housing and Urban Development - has published its latest insights report, dated June 2025 . The report said there were 60 Pacific peoples' households in emergency housing in March 2025, while 75 Pacific peoples' households were denied. Read more: "An emergency housing grant decline represents an application that has been processed and considered ineligible," the report said. "The number of declines should not be considered representative of unmet demand for services, as we do not know the level of need that does not progress to a processed application." It said where people are declined emergency housing assistance, the Ministry of Social Development may provide other options, such as a referral to transitional housing, or housing support products that provide financial assistance. When it comes to Housing First clients in Auckland, nearly half the households waiting had a primary client who is Māori, while over a quarter (26.7 percent) are Pasifika. Housing First supports people living without shelter, with high or complex needs, to access and maintain stable housing and address trauma and other challenges. The report said the ethnicity comparisons are based on the primary client rather than the overall household - for example, there could be a household of Pasifika, but if the primary applicant identifies as Māori, that will be recorded. For Māori - who make up more than half of emergency housing clients - the number of households with a Māori primary client granted emergency housing was approximately 380 granted to 260 declined. A household can also be granted emergency housing and declined emergency housing in the same month. Census data suggests there were at least 112,500 people in Aotearoa who were severely housing deprived on 7 March 2023, including 4965 people estimated to be living without shelter. "However, the data and observations we have collated from around the country indicate this has increased," the report said.
