Pothole costs double as gravel stocks hit the rocks
After years of excavation, riverbeds run low on stones. Anan Zaki reports.
has always been fascinated with fixing things, that’s what led him to being a mechanic,’’ Kim says.
Brendon has followed his dream of opening his own business, Hakuna Matata Agricultural Services – a fitting name, he reckons. It means ‘‘no worries’’.
He has also moved back into his own home over the past week.
‘‘I feel very lucky. I know it could have been so much worse, I tell people all the time I received the very best care with the best in the world looking after me,’’ he says.
‘‘I think the fact I was so physically fit at the time, not drinking and exercising and eating well helped a lot with my recovery and with the support of my family around me.’’
He is more prone to fatigue, his body aches sometimes, and his speech can be slightly affected, especially more so if he’s tired, but he has learned to manage it all.
And according to the doctors, things will continue to get better as the brain continues to repair for up to five years.
‘‘Things are coming back to me more and more, I actually have days where I feel like I’m getting smarter, where I don’t have to think about tasks as much, they just all come naturally again.’’
Brendon says going through an experience like this has made them all the more appreciative of the community they live in.
But mainly he just wants people to know he is still alive.
He keeps showing up at places where people think he is dead thanks to the various news reports of the accident at the time. So this is a chance for him to set the record straight.
Brendon Demmocks is back. THE cost of keeping roads pothole-free has doubled in some parts of New Zealand as overexcavation of river beds has led to a chronic shortage of gravel.
Rivers don’t just offer a multitude of recreational opportunities, they also supply most of the gravel used to keep our roads in good working order.
But some rivers in New Zealand have had so many tonnes of stones dug out of them they are no longer producing gravel.
In Marlborough, where the cost of gravel has doubled, the council is trying self-imposed controls of sorts.
Marlborough Roads, the council’s roading arm, must now get resource consents, where before they could take freely from the region’s rivers.
They also used to take from parts of the Marlborough Sounds, but those sources had all but dried up.
‘‘There are places like the [Marlborough] Sounds, where the gravel resources are very scarce, especially in the Kenepuru [Sound], where there really isn’t any gravel left anymore,’’ Marlborough Roads journey manager Steve Murrin said.
Shifting gravel from Blenheim to places such as the Kenepuru Sound, with its many unsealed roads, made costs ‘‘much higher’’, he said.
Unsealed roads were the number one source of complaints for Marlborough Roads.
Environment Canterbury regional lead for river engineering Shaun McCracken said the regional council had stopped river-based gravel extraction in some rivers due to a slow down of river aggradation, the process where gravel builds up in rivers.
‘‘A river like the Waimakariri, for example, has a very large supply rate of gravel from the Alps,’’ McCracken said.
‘‘The Ashley River, which is more foothills based, doesn’t have the same supply of sediment and the aggradation rate is much slower.’’
River-based gravel accounted for 20 to 30 per cent of Canterbury’s extracted gravel, with the rest coming from quarries, he said.
In Gisborne, concerns were raised following high gravel demand for regional forestry roads, which prompted the Gisborne District Council to conduct a study to assess the state of its gravel.
A council report in early February proved gravel resources had taken a hit and in some rivers, was fully used up.
Gisborne District Council environmental science manager Lois Easton said more careful river management was needed.
Eric Souchon, managing director of Waikato-based roading contractor H.G. Leach and Co, believed councils needed to focus on balancing the use of quarries and rivers for their gravel.
The company focused on quarrying but had extracted gravel from Gisborne rivers in the past.
‘‘It’s not about going out and ripping out every bit of it, it’s got to be planned. Prudent river management and gravel extraction can work hand-inhand quite easily,’’ he said.
‘‘Absolutely rivers are not an endless source of rock, they regenerate and replenish over hundreds of years. Rivers are not the only answer, it’s part of the answer.’’
Back in Marlborough, Gill Construction’s construction manager Roger Earl said river gravel was the best material for road metalling.
‘‘It’s about hardness, cleanliness and weathering. When you go to quarries the clay level is higher.’’
It cost the council $600,000 a year to maintain the region’s 630km of unsealed road. This was expected to increase to $850,000 in 2018/19.
It extracted 170,000 cubic metres of gravel in 2016 to help maintain the region’s roads.
I actually have days where I feel like I’m getting smarter.’ Rivers are not an endless source of rock.’ WAIKATO ROADING CONTRACTOR ERIC SOUCHON