Dirty rivers dead dogs and dairy farmers.

[mashman]

found this too... might help

[scissorhands]

Western Springs has a huge duck pond, only 100meters from the race track.

Managed by auckland city parks, no real pressure was put on them for the state of the waterway. Carcases of dead ducks were seen floating for over a week, even though they were supposed to retrieve daily by dingy.

The rotting bodies increases the levels of botulism. I got on the cover of our local rag, and they ran a story highlighting the botulism, but the media exposure really didnt put Auckland City Council in the spotlight, but blamed warmer temperatures rather than poor management.....

The problem is a shallow pond heating up in late summer, leaf drop in the pond in autumn causing vegetation rotting botulism, plus rotting duck, carp and eel botulism, and low rainfall.

[98tls]

Western Springs has a huge duck pond, only 100meters from the race track.

Managed by auckland city parks, no real pressure was put on them for the state of the waterway. Carcases of dead ducks were seen floating for over a week, even though they were supposed to retrieve daily by dingy.

The rotting bodies increases the levels of botulism. I got on the cover of our local rag, and they ran a story highlighting the botulism, but the media exposure really didnt put Auckland City Council in the spotlight, but blamed warmer temperatures rather than poor management.....

In other words the powers that be really just dont care eh,sad.

[98tls]

found this too... might help

Cheers mate,had a quick flick through that,will delve deeper into it later.Cant see the Council being helpful re testing but theres nothing stopping us doing it it,be intersting to see the results though i doubt THEY will be interested no matter what the tests show,if nothing else we may be able to use the tests to at least get them to put up some signs warning of the danger to dogs swimming there.Surely if its killing dogs it cant be any good for people.

[Gone Burger]

It is a real shame with our local rivers. The Hutt river causes problems now every summer with toxic algae there every season without fail. This means you wait all winter to be able to take the dogs to the river for some decent fun and exercise, and come the good weather, it's out of bounds right til the end of summer. I was lucky, have been living next to the Akatarawa River for 3 years, and the problem was never up that far. The dogs basically lived in the river all summer and the swimming was so good for my rescue dogs bad joints. I have moved now, and once again, limitations on letting them back in the water locally.

I guess we are now just coming to accept thats how it is. Although it wasn't many years ago that this problem wasn't as frequent. Mmmm who knows. It is hard to not question what we can do about it.

[98tls]

It is a real shame with our local rivers. The Hutt river causes problems now every summer with toxic algie there every season without fail. This means you wait all winter to be able to take the dogs to the river for some decent fun and exericise, and come the good weather, it's out of bounds right til the end of summer. I was lucky, have been living next to the Akatarawa River for 3 years, and the problem was never up that far. The dogs basically lived in the river all summer and the swimming was so good for my rescue dogs bad joints. I have moved now, and once again, limitations on letting them back in the water locally.

I guess we are now just coming to accept thats how it is. Although it wasn't many years ago that this problem wasn't as frequent. Mmmm who knows. It is hard to not question what we can do about it.

Hear what your saying,if indeed the dairy farms are the main cause (not saying they are) then it seems bloody shameful really,sure many have there own wells so they cant be blamed for water levels though in the river affecting me theres plenty sucking water out of it,Ironic that they would prosper from the river whilst leaving it unuseable for the public,one of the great things about living where i do is the rivers and i spend much of my free time around them,another reason i have a dog i guess as they to love there time there.

[Deano]

No mate i havent though ive a day off so when in town might call in to the Council office and mention it to them.Interesting about the "distance to waterways" thing,where we take the dogs and swim ourselves is a great spot called Gemmels crossing and theres dairy farms all along the banks of the river,you only have to climb out of the river walk up the bank 10 yards and you run into fences,annoyingly whilst walking long sections of one side of the bank you can see where they are sucking water directly out of the river for there irragation which obviously doesnt help levels in the dry season.May wait a day or 2 after the rain stops and go take a sample directly from the biggest swimming hole,where would i go to get it tested?

I believe that it may be 20m distance to any waterway - but not 100% sure. It allows faecal matter to percolate through the soil (except in real heavy downpours where there may be run off), filtering/killing off many bacteria before hitting the waterway.

Taking of water generally requires consent too.

Talk to the pollution people at your Regional Council (not Local Authority). If any testing is done, the sampling needs to be carried out by suitably qualified people.

[george formby]

We recently had um heap big rain & flooding. The contour of the river changed dramatically & huge amounts of silt were washed out. Within 2 days the river was virtually choked with algae / weed. You could almost see the crap growing. My dog is in their most days but touch wood is fine. For most of the rivers length their is a buffer of trees & bush separating it from the cow paddocks but it is still not clear after 3 weeks. Tis a worry.

Looking down at some, er, sections..



the river is normally below the gums in the background,
like this..



the Bay afterwards.

[JMemonic]

There have been a few warnings around some of the popular day trip and camping spots around home over the last few years, Coes Ford is an example there were huge blue/green algal blooms when I last went out there, the water level was down and it stunk. I recall some of the warnings being dog specific.

Sure dairy is a huge export winner but one would think the farmers themselves would want to be responsible for their environment, polluted run off is going to cost in the future surely.

[oneofsix]

There have been a few warnings around some of the popular day trip and camping spots around home over the last few years, Coes Ford is an example there were huge blue/green algal blooms when I last went out there, the water level was down and it stunk. I recall some of the warnings being dog specific.

Sure dairy is a huge export winner but one would think the farmers themselves would want to be responsible for their environment, polluted run off is going to cost in the future surely.

Cost to whom?

[george formby]

The biggest problem we have with flooding is everybodys septic tanks being flushed down the river or drains into the Bay.

[JMemonic]

Cost to whom?

Possibly those who pay the rates that allow the regional councils to clean or otherwise rectify the problems, to those of us who are no longer able to draw water for drinking without expensive filtration and purification processes.

In some countries it is cheaper to purchase Coke-Cola than to pay for the water out of the tap due to pollution of the source, sure the maybe what we call third world and have rampant corruption but they are supposed to be civilised westernised nations.

[oneofsix]

Possibly those who pay the rates that allow the regional councils to clean or otherwise rectify the problems, to those of us who are no longer able to draw water for drinking without expensive filtration and purification processes.

In some countries it is cheaper to purchase Coke-Cola than to pay for the water out of the tap due to pollution of the source, sure the maybe what we call third world and have rampant corruption but they are supposed to be civilised westernised nations.

good point. I was thinking central govt via farm subsidy but local govt is just as good if not better. Either way not the people making money polluting the rivers.

[Swoop]

A mate will not fish on the Waimakariri due to pollution, sadly. Older chap who loves his outdoors.

Indeed,"Western Springs" pond mate,is that a place that the Public would go to to swim etc,sorry i am at the other end of the country and dont know the area.

It used to be the main fresh water source for Auckland City, many years back. An underground spring of immense capacity.

[pete376403]

It is a real shame with our local rivers. The Hutt river causes problems now every summer with toxic algae there every season without fail. This means you wait all winter to be able to take the dogs to the river for some decent fun and exercise, and come the good weather, it's out of bounds right til the end of summer. I was lucky, have been living next to the Akatarawa River for 3 years, and the problem was never up that far. The dogs basically lived in the river all summer and the swimming was so good for my rescue dogs bad joints. I have moved now, and once again, limitations on letting them back in the water locally.

I guess we are now just coming to accept thats how it is. Although it wasn't many years ago that this problem wasn't as frequent. Mmmm who knows. It is hard to not question what we can do about it.

There's not that many dairy farms backing on to the Hutt river that I can think of.
However there are a number of lifestyle blocks which probably use septic tanks for waste disposal rather than the piped sewer system.