KEEPING IT CLEAN
Clearing debris in the duck pond
It’s mostly about the ducks.
There have been times when old bikes, detergent pranks and all sorts of litter have cluttered the duck pond in Palmerston North’s Square.
Those were times when it took a small army of council staff wading gumboot-deep in smelly sludge all day to clean it.
But, Palmerston North City Council central business district co-ordinator Owen Quennell said a more regular cleaning regime and improved behaviour around The Square, had made the task easier.
‘‘In the past, you name it, it was probably found in there. There used to be a trail of vandalism from the hotels and across The Square.
‘‘But behaviour in the city has improved a lot compared to 15 years ago.’’
As well as less rubbish, the regularity of the pond’s cleaning has increased, reducing it from a big annual undertaking to a much easier task three or four times a year.
Cleaning is avoided in dry, summer seasons when there are water restrictions on the city’s main supply, but evaporation demands top-ups to the water level.
Council staff usually do the cleaning, but sometimes, contractors Total Irrigation muck in. They put in the lights during the redevelopment of The Square and it gives them an opportunity to service the hardware in and around the pond when the tide is out.
Quennell said he would be quite happy if there were no ducks on the pond – their droppings are the main cause of the need for regular cleaning. Leaves, pohutakawa seeds and spent kowhai flowers added to the mix, as did general wind-blown dust and dirt.
Despite concerns for safety that prompted installation of a shallow shelf around the edge of the pond, to Quennell’s knowledge, there has
only ever been one child found in the pond, who was ‘‘yanked out pretty quickly’’.