Business reaction helps pollution response
21 November 2017
Business reaction helps pollution response
Prior to reporting the tallow spill into the
Tyne Street Drain and Ahuriri Estuary yesterday, staff from
two local businesses took it upon themselves to close the
Tyne Street drain pollution prevention gates to minimise and
stem the flow of tallow from the drain into the Ahuriri
Estuary.
Staff from Lowe Corp and Classic
Sheepskins - on discovering the discharge that they had no
part in causing - immediately took preventative action to
minimise the harm to the environment.
HBRC Resource Use Manager, Wayne Wright says, “ The staff of these two companies are to be applauded for taking decisive action to minimise the harm this spill may have caused. This is a positive indication of the commitment people have to protect our environment, and so pleasing that the people concerned were prepared to take time away from their own business operations to help Regional and Napier City Council staff.”
Reports on social media alerted HBRC to the incident, rather than the incident being reported via the 24 hour pollution hotline.
“The discharge had been noticed several hours earlier by members of the public with photographs and comments posted on social media, however the Regional Council was not contacted directly,” Wright says.
“We encourage everyone, when seeing
something of concern, to phone the Pollution Hotline on 0800
108838. HBRC pollution response staff will attend
immediately.”
“It is better to be safe than sorry and
there’s no such thing as a bad call. We would rather be
told and have us make an assessment rather than not have it
reported,” adds Mr Wright.
Investigation is continuing into the cause of the spill and it appears it may have resulted from a faulty connection between the trade-waste and stormwater connections at a local tallow plant.
Both HBRC and Napier City Council are working to confirm the cause and take appropriate action to prevent such situation happening again.
ends