Hawke’s Bay Silt Recovery taskforce ‘making headway’, 350,000m3 of silt shifted

Silt and waste on a roadside in cyclone-affected Pākōwhai.

Hawke’s Bay Regional Council says the Silt Recovery Taskforce has shifted about 350,000m3 of silt since February’s cyclone.

Chair Hinewai Ormsby said the taskforce has developed an “efficient and effective way of tackling the silt challenge.

”Silt clean-up is a huge task for our rohe, and the taskforce is making headway in cleaning it up, with 199 jobs completed,” Ormsby said.

”The taskforce, a combined effort between Hawke’s Bay Regional Council and Hastings District Council, has to the end of May 2023 spent $9.7 million working through its comprehensive action plan focused on zones with dedicated contractors.”

Hastings Mayor Sandra Hazlehurst said it was a long-term issue with over 1,000,000m3 of silt that the taskforce and its contractors are working through.

”We’re really proud that most of our contractors are local, and that they’re on the ground working to get our region back to what it was.

”Taskforce lead Darren de Klerk said the zoning system, allocating geographic areas to contracting companies, was proving successful.

”A really encouraging result is that silt testing at our silt deposit sites is showing no elevated contaminants. The taskforce is working on a range of issues to support Hawke’s Bay’s recovery.”

Council said its team is also establishing processing sites for mixed debris and waste and setting up a workstream for woody debris.

A woody debris collection will be co-ordinated on behalf of all Hawke’s Bay councils with a project manager in Wairoa.

“We’re also supporting impacted communtities in CHB with woody debris around Pōrangahau and Kairakau. We’re also working through waste streams such as rainwater tanks, tanalised posts, flood-damaged windows and Extenday which address the really specific challenges some of our residents are facing.

“We’ll have a collection system for rainwater tanks opening soon; keep an eye out for this and solutions for the other waste streams.”

The Sediment and Debris Recovery Fund for Commercial Entities is another aspect of the taskforce’s mahi.

”We were proud to get applications for this fund open a month after the Government announced the funding. We’re working closely with industry to make sure the money goes to where it’s most needed,” de Klerk said.

* For more information on the Silt Recovery Taskforce, to apply for funding, or to request a silt or debris collection head to hbrc.govt.nz. While the taskforce is working across all Hawke’s Bay councils, Napier City and Wairoa District councils will continue to manage their own silt collections. Contact your relevant council for silt collection.