Weed-E The Weed Cutter To Cut Shapes In Blenheim River

Monday, 31 March 2025, 7:28 pm
Article: Maia Hart - Local Democracy Reporter

Big news, Marlborough is getting a new river weed cutter.

The Marlborough District Council has even given it a name.

Weed-E is currently being tested to make sure it meets maritime standards, and is expected to make its debut on Blenheim’s Ōpaoa and Taylor rivers in May.

Aquamarine weeds have for years plagued the Taylor River, which ran through the centre of town and frequently flooded.

Weed-E's debut is timed for when the Proposed Marlborough Environment Plan allows weed cutting in the river to resume.

Council’s assets and services manager Richard Coningham spilled some of the beans about Weede at a council committee meeting earlier this month.

He put it on the record he was not the one that came up with the name.

“Weed and then an e, I didn't name it,” Coningham said.

The council did not want to answer any further questions about Weed-E until it was 100% signed off and ready. Its debut would be kind of a big deal, and a ribbon could even be cut ahead of Weed-E’s first foray into weed control.

But Coningham, after some after some prompting from deputy mayor David Croad, did say Weede had passed its sea trials.

“It operates a lot quicker and a lot more efficiently than the old boat,” Coningham said.

The council’s own rules in the environment plan prevented weed cutting from February 1 through to the end of April, to protect the whitebait spawning season.

The weeds sometimes contributed to the river breaching its banks, flooding areas popular with dog walkers and cyclists, who used the river boardwalk.

But that was not the only thing contributing to the flooded footpaths.

The current weed cutter, dubbed River Queen, had ended up out of service in 2022 after it broke and the part needed to replace it had to come from Australia.

Sediment build-up of about 1m also led to the council agreeing at last year’s annual plan to dredge the river.

An information package for the report said River Queen’s final cut was was completed at the end of January, complementing the dredging efforts.

It said dredging from below the rail bridge in town to Stuart St was nearly complete.

“Excavated material has been transported to a registered cleanfill, berms have been reshaped, and the area is once again open to the public,” the report said.

“Water levels in town have since dropped significantly.”

Meanwhile, the council had planned to replace rotten wood on the boardwalk of the river, near Raupō cafe.

The boardwalk, on both sides of the Taylor River, was built as part of a wider realignment of State Highway 1 in 2001.

The macrocarpa decking was not surviving the damp conditions, so the council planned to replace the boards with a synthetic, recycled plastic after investigating available options in the market.

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