North Shore Times (New Zealand)
Sludge on beach caused by contractor
A discharge of red water and brown sludge onto Takapuna Beach, which alarmed beachwalkers last Wednesday afternoon, was caused by the council’s Healthy Waters team.
A contractor was clearing pipes at Auckland Council’s request, using a red-coloured dye to identify a drainage fault in the stormwater drains.
The water, and accompanying clay sediment, spilled out of a stormwater pipe near Ewen St, across the sand and into the ocean.
‘‘The use of dye to trace drainage faults is normal practice and is allowed under the Auckland Unitary Plan as it is non-toxic and designed specifically for this purpose,’’ council regulatory compliance manager Steve Pearce said.
But the thick reddish-brown clay sludge concerned those walking along the beach.
Takapuna worker Joanne Duncan was on a lunch break when she spotted the substance near Ewen St at about 1.30pm, and called Auckland Council’s pollution hotline.
Duncan said the creamy sludge, which was soft and sticky, was unmissable, but other beach walkers didn’t seem to be paying attention to the pollution, prompting her to call Council.
She thought it looked like a building material which had made its way into the stormwater pipes.
Michael Jackson was also out walking the beach on Wednesday and said he was ‘‘disheartened’’ when he came across the sludge.
He initially thought it was brown paint, but, on closer inspection, said it looked like some kind of commercial waste.
‘‘I wanted to take a picture and put it on my Facebook, and write ‘Clean and green New Zealand?’,’’ he said.
‘‘You don’t know what it’s doing out there [in the water] and I feel sorry for these surfers, because they may not know that this is here, you just don’t know what it is.’’
An Auckland Council pollution response team arrived at 3pm to test the substance.
Pearce said the contractor had been asked to clean up the clay sediment that escaped onto the beach as part of the trace operation.
‘‘Our Healthy Waters team ... are reviewing their practices to ensure this doesn’t happen again in the future,’’ he said.