Holiday park cleared in E coli report
A major investigation into the source of an E coli outbreak at Lake Ruataniwha has drawn a blank and cleared a nearby holiday park of any wrong doing.
The outbreak, which occurred in January, prompted an extensive investigation from Environment Canterbury and a report compiled by resource management officer Henrietta Hazlett and released to the Upper Waitaki Zone Committee yesterday ruled out both the Lake Ruataniwha Holiday Park and the nearby salmon farms as sources for the outbreak.
Holiday Park manager Tony Ritchie said the report put them in the clear.
‘‘It vindicates us. We always knew our practices were good, we’re constantly checking our systems. We don’t want to pollute the water in any way.’’
He said the company had spent about $10,000 this summer on a full professional assessment of the oxidation ponds.
‘‘At the moment, the ponds are the best option we’ve got, but they’ve been around since the Ministry of Works days in the 1970s.
‘‘If other systems became available we
would certainly use them.’’
ECan’s southern zone manager Chris Eccleston said the investigation was one of a ‘‘process of elimination’’.
‘‘We looked at a number of different sites, including the holiday park,’’ Eccleston said.
‘‘They were very helpful, and went above and beyond what was required of them.’’
Eccleston said because the problem was so intermittent, it was very difficult to pinpoint the exact source.
‘‘We haven’t worked out the answer to that yet,’’ he said.
According to ECan’s report, the holiday park has consents to host up to 2300 people, at its busiest this summer, it had about 1260 people.
ECan said it would continue to monitor the state of the holiday park’s oxidation ponds.
‘‘Because of the upcoming Maadi Cup regatta, we will undertake more intensive sampling of the several sites around Lake Ruataniwha swimming area prior and during the event to provide timely information about water quality of the key swimming and rowing areas,’’ the report says.
Lake Ruataniwha will host the South Island Secondary Schools Rowing Championships
from March 13-15, and the New Zealand Secondary Schools’ Maadi Cup from March 30-April 5.
The report also says that ECan first approached Lake Ruataniwha Holiday Park on January 10, and found there was ‘‘full compliance with consent’’.
‘‘I inspected all toilet blocks with (Lake Ruataniwha Holiday Park manager) Tony Ritchie, and they all looked in good order,’’ Hazlett’s report says.
‘‘There was no evidence to show that there is leakage coming from the oxidation ponds during my site inspection.’’
However, it also noted that an independent report on the Lake Ruataniwha Holiday Park oxidation ponds was due soon, and ECan would then conclude if further sampling and investigation of the campground was required.
ECan is also talking with the Mackenzie District Council about the possibilities of joining up the campground to the mainline sewerage system.
‘‘It is important to note that there haven’t been any high E coli results since the spike on January 14,’’ the report says.
Eccleston said there were plans to increase monitoring at Lake Ruataniwha next summer from its usual weekly samples to twice weekly.
‘‘It vindicates us. We always knew our practices were good, we’re constantly checking our systems. We don’t want to pollute the water in any way.’’
Tony Ritchie, Lake Ruataniwha Holiday Park manager