Dogs spark wee worry over street light poles

Dogs urinating on street lights are thought to be causing the deterioration of the galvanised steel poles along a popular canine-walking route in Richmond.

Tasman District Council transportation manager Jamie McPherson said structural testing of street light columns along Hill St had revealed that the galvanised steel of some poles had been ‘‘pitted right through’’.

‘‘It’s a dog-walking route,’’ McPherson said, adding it was believed the steel had been ‘‘chemically pitted away’’ by the urine from man’s best friend.

The poles were just 10 to 15 years old, and had been expected to last for 50 to 70 years.

The wee worry was identified as structural integrity testing got under way on all of the council’s 1650 steel street light columns. Testing was due to be carried out over the next four months along with visual checks of 360 timber and concrete columns, McPherson said.

‘‘We’ll get a list of poles and columns that we need to replace. It may not include replacement of the entire unit; we can just replace the bit that sleeves into the ground.’’

The manufacturer’s standards on coatings would also be reviewed, he said. ‘‘These poles did have a coating that was best practice at the time, but we’re just making sure that whatever we put in now . . . is the appropriate coating.’’

McPherson said the council’s awareness of the matter had been raised by an issue in Otago.

Aurora Energy and its parent company, Delta, came under scrutiny in Otago after former manager-turned-whistleblower Richard Healey said its power poles were dangerous. He went public after a colleague died in December 2010 after climbing a pole that did not have a red ‘‘do not climb’’ tag attached, and the pole fell over.

McPherson said the results of testing in Tasman district would be reported to the council’s engineering services committee.