‘Heart’ of Whitby now brown
Stray silt from work on the Transmission Gully motorway is being accused of turning lakes at the heart of a nearby suburb brown.
Greater Wellington Regional Council is investigating what has caused two lakes in the Porirua suburb of Whitby to turn increasingly brown over the past few months.
Residents blame construction work on a nearby link road that will eventually connect the major roading project north of Wellington with Porirua for spilling too much silt.
But a Transmission Gully project manager says the work is meeting its resource consent conditions.
A Whitby resident of 35 years, June Campbell-Tong, recently returned from a month’s holiday and felt ‘‘absolutely shattered’’ when she saw the lakes.
‘‘They were a jewel in Whitby but [are] now an absolute disgrace. Before I went away on holiday, it was just the top lake but now the lower lake as well, and it is awful to see.’’
The lakes sit by a small shopping centre, which she described as the heart of the suburb.
City councillor Anita Baker believed silt fencing at the roading project was not stopping it being washed down into the lakes or elsewhere into Porirua Harbour.
‘‘There is a water course and a stormwater pipe that feeds the top lake . . . pumping out sediment ponds in the watercourse, which is taking it directly into the lake.
She was worried the silt would make its way to Porirua Harbour.
‘‘Transmission Gully will be fantastic for our region but not at the expense of our harbour.’’
The top lake was usually in a good condition while the lower one had issues with algae bloom, she said.
Residents installed a fountain with aerators to keep the water clean, but the silt meant it had to be turned off.
Transmission Gully stakeholders and approvals manager Darren Utting said there had been no abatement notices issued for work on the Whitby or Waitangirua link roads.
There was one infringement notice in an area that did not drain to the lakes, he said. Consents for the Waitangirua Link Rd allow sediment discharges through treatment devices to streams that run to the upper lake.
In July, a small hole in a control fence was fixed the day it was discovered, he said.
A Greater Wellington Regional Council spokesman said staff were investigating the health of the lakes and silt deposits which ‘‘may or may not be related to work on the Waitangirua Link Rd’’.
The investigation would look at the impact on fish and plants, and would take about a month.