Taps turned off after river crash spills chemical

Auckland will temporarily stop taking water from the Waikato after a truck accident spilled 13 tonnes of urea fertiliser into the river yesterday.

Aucklanders are not expected to notice any impact from the shutdown. A $155 million pipeline system taking water from the river to Auckland started operating last year after a drought in 1994 caused supply concerns.

The crash happened about 7.30am on the Narrows Bridge near Hamilton Airport.

Hamilton City Council operations manager David Hight said urea could unsettle the water treatment process, so the station was closed between 9.30am and 1pm to allow the spill to pass down the river. Water supplies to the city had not been affected.

Chemical urea can turn into ammonia when it comes into contact with water. Large amounts of ammonia can be toxic.

Yesterday afternoon a council spokesman said the spill had not posed a real danger and the closure was a precautionary measure. The urea was "diluted to the point it was not a real issue".

Watercare Services spokesman Owen Gill said the urea would be highly diluted by the time it reached the Tuakau treatment plant, but the company would suspend operations - sometime before noon - to reassure the public. The plant would reopen when Watercare was satisfied with test results.

The Waikato provided about 6 per cent of Auckland's bulk drinking water, he said.

Police said the truck's driver, Leon Snooks, escaped without injury, but his young son suffered cuts.

The truck was left wedged across the bridge with its trailer unit dangling over the side. The road was closed for about six hours.

* It was the third serious accident on the bridge in three years. In the worst crash, in March 2000, Morrinsville volunteer fire officer Kieran O'Hanlon, 17, died after a water tanker he was a passenger in crashed there.

- NZPA