JONATHAN DOW
So much for our "clean, green" image, said Andrew Fulford, who went to Riverlands Park, on the Tukituki River near Havelock North, to check the river level on April 30.
Along with the usual soil, logs and gravel, a stream of rubbish floated down Hawke's Bay rivers with the last
heavy rain.
"The place looked like a dump," he said. And there was more at Waitangi, Awatoto, on the bank of the Tutaekuri River, clearly visible from State Highway 2.
"It's embarrassing: this is New Zealand, and it's Hawke's Bay - you wouldn't see this in New York or Sydney. You know that people use these rivers for illegal dumps but it was the scale of stuff that shocked me."
He said the rubbish at Waitangi had not come down the river but had floated out of an area of long grass in the reserve. Illegal dumping had been getting worse as more people used the public access points to the rivers.
He suggested either locking the gates so access to the rivers was limited to daylight hours - which would annoy whitebaiters and fishermen - or installing security cameras.
"Maybe it's time they employed a full-time warden to keep an eye on these areas."
Hawke's Bay Regional Council compliance manager Bryce Lawrence said it appeared some rubbish had come from upstream.
"It's something we have to face - that there's people out there that think it's okay to dump rubbish where they like," he said.
But why would people dump rubbish - including pre-paid Hastings District Council rubbish bags - on river banks?
"They're lazy."
Dumpers avoided getting caught, often working at night. They could be prosecuted only if the council was sure who was responsible.
"Even if you find it in the stream - even if you find electricity bills in the bags - it's pretty much impossible to prosecute people," he said.
Under the Resource Management Act, the regional council could prosecute people for discharging contaminants into water. But that was a "big hammer" and not ideal for prosecuting rubbish dumpers, Mr Lawrence said.
