Cleaner lake campaign to target loo use Timaru cobbler busy again
A campaign to encourage responsible toilet use at Lake Ruataniwha is on the cards next summer after high E coli levels were recorded in January.
The initiative aimed at educating people on the locations of toilets, and the importance of using them, was the subject of a recent online workshop, according to a report to be tabled at this Friday’s Upper Waitaki Water Zone Committee meeting.
The workshop followed up on a request from the committee in February for signage to be created after high levels of faecal bacteria led to the closure ofthe Lake Ruataniwha campsite beach area for more than a week during the January 2020 peak holiday period, Environment Canterbury (ECan) senior communications and engagement adviser Kate Doran says in the report.
‘‘The committee asked for the signage to highlight that holidaymakers should be aware of their responsibility to protect (and not degrade) the quality of the water they are using for recreation,’’ she says.
A site visit is planned for midJuly, ahead of the campaign development, with invites to be extended to stakeholders including local ru¯ nanga, the Mackenzie District Council, the Department of Conservation, Youth ro¯pu¯, Lake Ruataniwha Camping Ground, Mackenzie Tourism, Alps to Ocean Cycle Trail, Ruataniwha Rowing Club and zone committee members.
The campaign will run between October 2020 and April 2021, and a survey will measure its effectiveness, the report says.
On January 1 2020, routine testing of the lake water recorded high levels of faecal bacteria.
It made the water unsuitable for recreational use and Canterbury medical officer of health Dr Cheryl Brunton warned that although most ill-health effects from contaminated water are minor and short-lived, there is the potential for more serious diseases, such as hepatitis A, or salmonella infection.
The health warning was downgraded on January 5 but reinstated on January 8, with some suggesting the campground could be the source of the issue, although an investigation by ECan was inconclusive.
The Upper Waitaki Water Zone Committee in February discussed the campground and whether its oxidation pond could have contributed to the high E coli readings.
‘‘It was agreed that even if it wasn’t the source of the E coli, the oxidation pond was still a risk to the lake in the event of an earthquake or other failure,’’ the report says.
There’s still a few years of cobbling left in 64-year-old Evan Walker, but the Timaru cobbler came dangerously close to losing it all in lockdown.
Walker, of the Footwear Company on Beswick St, said he missed out on about $14,000 in income while New Zealand was shut down at Covid-19 alert levels 4 and 3 – but without the Government wage subsidy, the loss would have been far greater and ‘‘enough to put me out of business’’.
‘‘A lot of people said on social media, ‘If they’re going to fold up anyway, it means they weren’t very good at planning for the future’. Well, you always have a backstop but this was difficult to plan for,’’ Walker said.
‘‘The subsidy they came up with certainly helped.’’
The shoe repair shop had close to 80 jobs come in during the first week it opened at level 2, compared to an average of 50.
‘‘You don’t know what’s going to happen, but I thought it might be very quiet. It wasn’t. It was chaos,’’ he said.
‘‘Whether it was because people were doing a lot of walking, I don’t know – but it was a combination of purchasing items that I sell and getting shoes repaired, which was great.’’
Business had since slowed down ‘‘which is good because it enabled me to get on top of it’’.
While the shop ‘‘officially’’ reopened at level 2, Walker spent level 3 fixing shoes dropped off in the days after lockdown was announced.
But Walker had already booked a flight to Auckland to join his daughter’s bubble.
‘‘I had a lot of jobs come in before I left, probably 30 or 40.’’
Returning to Timaru five weeks later, he got to work catching up ahead of reopening and taking on more jobs.
It was good so many people were still choosing to get their shoes repaired rather than replaced, Walker said.
‘‘When you’ve got expensive shoes, $200 or more, it’s better to keep them going because they’re normally made quite well.’’
A lot of his work was repairing shoes with holes in them, especially during winter.
‘‘There’s nothing worse than cold feet in winter and if you have a hole in your shoe, the water gets through.’’
Heels also tended to wear out quickly and need repairing, while the owners of knee-high boots came to him because it was difficult to find replacements.
Walker was a truck driver in Auckland before moving to Timaru nine years ago, beginning a business repairing shoes soon after.
‘‘I think there’s a few years left in me yet, because it’s not so strenuous.’’
He had no staff, but plans to look for a young cobbler to eventually replace him.