Kapiti locals get the ball rolling on river cleanup
Someone dumped thousands of ball-pit balls in Waikanae River, and residents have spent hours pulling them out.
Paraparaumu resident Blair Rosson said he took his children swimming about 3pm on Saturday.
But after walking to their favourite swimming spot – about 200 metres from Main Rd – they found the waterway decorated with floating balls.
For the next two hours, Rosson said they collected balls out of the water – about 2000 of them.
Further upstream, he found old wool sacks with more balls still inside. His four children spent two hours pulling balls out of the river.
The balls could have been dumped out of laziness, or by someone who didn’t want to pay the cost of a tip visit, he said.
Greater Wellington Regional Council spokesman Stephen Heath said to dump the balls was ‘‘stupid and irresponsible’’.
‘‘Whilst it may not have an impact on the quality of the water and the environment, it certainly has an impact on the quality of the visual environment.
‘‘So we’d certainly think it’s a very dumb thing to do, if someone has done this deliberately.’’
The balls were classified as litter, not pollution, because once removed from the water, they would not leave a lasting impact.
After contacting Ka¯piti Coast District Council, Heath had been advised that a contractor would remove the balls and dispose of them as fast as they could.
‘‘I would assume there’s some still in the river. If they’re floating down the river, they’ll end up on the Ka¯ piti Coast no doubt, which is very bad for the marine environment.’’
Following the Rosson children’s efforts to remove some of the balls on Saturday, Heath said that more balls were transported away from the water and riverbank by truck yesterday.