Government To Help Fund Clean-Up Of Contaminated Tasman Site – Minister

The Government will grant nearly $500,000 to the Tasman District Council to assist the first two stages of cleaning up a former chemical company site in Mapua, near Nelson, the Environment Minister, Marian Hobbs said today. This will cover two-thirds of the cost with the TDC meeting the other third.

The former Fruitgrowers Chemical Company site in Mapua is heavily contaminated with pesticide residues, including DDT and dieldrin, as a result of over 50 years' intensive chemical manufacturing until it closed in 1988.

Pesticides in the soil and buried chemical wastes are the source of contamination affecting surrounding areas of the Waimea inlet. The site also poses a risk to human health and, in its present state, is not safe for any use.

Marian Hobbs said the grant would assist the council to complete site investigations and to apply for resource consents for the clean-up works.

"The Mapua site has been a long standing problem in the region and I am pleased to see that we are making significant progress," Marian Hobbs said. "I am confident that with the $472,500 contribution from the Government, and the commitment from the council to undertake this work, we will see the site properly cleaned up in the near future."

The clean up will be carried out in stages starting with detailed measurements of contaminant levels across the site. Resource consents will be needed before excavations and soil treatment begin some time in 2002.

The Ministry has also made a grant of $173,250 to the Waikato Regional Council for a feasibility study into the treatment or disposal of mine wastes from the defunct Tui Mine on Mt Te Aroha. The mine was abandoned in 1973 without a rehabilitation bond having been posted. The site discharges contaminated water to local streams and there is also a risk that the waste rock tailings dam could collapse.

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