“The silt causes a significant slip hazard, and we don’t really know what the content of that silt is.
“I’m assuming tests would have been done by the environmental arm of the district council, but we don’t know what they showed. We know that before Cyclone Gabrielle we had young people who had significant infections over the summer season.
“This year our sewers being opened into the river – not through anyone’s fault, we understand why that needs to happen — means that a significant amount of sewage has gone into the river.
“What bugs me the most is that when the media pay attention, the council comes to our aid. Post-Gabrielle, we had an amazing response from the council. They laid out artificial turf to enable us to get waka from the other side of the park.”
The Herald sought a response to these concerns from the council yesterday.
Council Liveable Communities director Michele Frey says subject to contractor availability, the ramps at Marina and Anzac parks will be cleared early next week.
“We’ve allocated funding to clear the ramps leading into summer and we’re in the process of working with clubs around what a sustainable solution might look like for this new issue.
“Council is committed to working with river sports codes to get the best outcomes for our community, however funding is constrained which adds to the challenge.
“What we’re seeing in our rivers is still significant amounts of suspended sediment, and a riverbed that has raised considerably around the boat ramps and key areas for river sports users.
“In a tidal river, that unfortunately has a huge impact on the low-tide water depth.
“This higher riverbed is meaning that silt more readily builds up in the ramp area, requiring more frequent removal than we’ve seen in the past.”
Before learning that the council had now allocated funding and intended to clear the ramps next week, Florrie Brooking said the thing that upset them at this time was that they were coming into their high season.
“We have 250 paddlers affiliated to our club. If we look at these teams training, on average, three days a week, that is a significant amount of foot traffic through that ramp.”
YMP Waka Ama have also used the Taruheru ramp in their national champs preparation over the past few years.
“We were told through the council and its representatives last week that there didn’t appear to be sufficient money within their operational budget to give the ramp a good clearing,” Florrie Brooking said.
“We are saying that this silt needs to be removed. Historically we were able to push it back into the water. But Gabrielle has caused almost a sandbar in the river.
“The silt needs to be removed because the build-up in that river, the Taruheru, has been more than in the past.
“The effect on the Waimata has been the opposite. That ramp has no build-up. At the end of it, the water is significantly deeper than it used to be.
“Taruheru has the wider ramp. Because of its size, it is the one predominantly used in the sprint season.
“We fail to understand why, as a community, we are getting millions of dollars pumped in because of Gabrielle but this work is reliant on operational budget. This should be coming out of some Gabrielle relief fund because it is Gabrielle-related. We shouldn’t be trying to fix this with ‘business-as-usual’ money.
“We’ve been told the council is close to using up that ‘business-as-usual’ money so they’re waiting for another weather event before doing anything. We can’t afford to wait for the next Gabrielle to come.”
Florrie Brooking said the club had got a quote for removal of the silt from the main ramp at Marina Park. It was between $5000 and $6000.
“We have asked the council to reimburse that amount should we go ahead with the work, and we’ve asked them to open their dumping site,” she said.
“The club has members and supporters with the machinery to do the work, but we’d need the permission of the council to dump at that site.”
“We don’t feel like we are being met halfway,” she said last week.
