Toxic timebombs tick on

Hundreds of homeowners could be living on a toxic timebomb as officials struggle to track down land contaminated by industrial waste decades ago.

Thousands of potentially hazardous sites have yet to be identified as underfunded councils around the country slowly update their records.

The Auckland Regional Council has identified more than 200 contaminated sites but admits there could be thousands more.

Those already on the list include land at Auckland Airport, Auckland Domain, Auckland Racing Club, Devonport Naval Base, Grafton Gully, Mt Albert War Memorial Park, Mt Smart Stadium, Mt Wellington Quarry, Morrin Rd Netball Courts, Paremoremo Prison and Vector Arena.

Outside our biggest city, airfields, cemeteries, golf clubs, hospital grounds, the Waitangi Hotel, Tauranga Bay Motor Camp, Tutukaka Hotel (now Oceans Hotel and Apartments) and Russell Wharf are all named.

Because cleaning up pollutants from past generations is exorbitantly expensive, little progress has been made in some areas. And it's a multi-million-dollar problem that's unlikely to dissolve in a hurry.

Identifying and checking toxic sites is the responsibility of regional councils and most already have an impressive list - a Selected Land Use Register (SLUR) - of sites which could be contaminated.

But the information can be unreliable, sometimes based on nothing more than an address of a long-gone panelbeater's from an old phone book.

In reality councils aren't sure whether the suspected contamination would put the public at risk, or if it exists at all, until they examine the site.

Waitakere, once dubbed "Auckland's fruit bowl", has a list of potentially hazardous sites - land sprayed with chemicals, including DDT, arsenic, copper and lead.

The ARC says just about anywhere in Auckland's CBD could be contaminated.

Sites like the old gasworks near the harbour bridge, Britomart, Beaumont St and Victoria Park Market, previously a rubbish incinerator, needed major cleanups before they could become glamorous venues for tourists, shops, offices and apartments.

The ARC is undertaking a $1million investigation of the old New Zealand Farmers Fertiliser Company in Onehunga, a 9.5ha site which has been subdivided with several owners.

Cleaning up the old Hobsonville Air Base is another project, where contamination from underground fuel storage tanks, firing ranges, and ammunition dumps will need to be removed before the land can be used for parks and housing.

John O'Grady, ARC manager of contaminated land, said the council was working on a user-friendly database.

"That's our challenge. We have to find them and list them. Then we have to get pro-active and encourage a cleanup."

While some councils are confident the majority of addresses on their lists are not dangerous, others simply don't know - because the sites have yet to be identified or because they lack funding to send someone out to check them.

The Environment Ministry hands out $2 million a year to councils for special clean-up projects from its Contaminated Sites Remediation Fund.

But when a single big clean-up of a badly contaminated site is likely to cost much more than that, the money doesn't go far.

The Government will fork out larger amounts for major projects like the $12m cleanup of the old Fruitgrowers Chemical Company site at Mapua, near Nelson. The cleanup of the asbestos-ridden Patea freezing works in Taranaki cost $15m and the Tui Mine at Te Aroha is a $9.8m project.

James Mitchell, hazardous substances officer for Northland Regional Council, acknowledged that of the sites identified as possibly contaminated, officials were not sure which posed a problem. "There just isn't enough funding for it."

He warns property buyers to be aware of possible contamination and to contact regional councils so they don't get lumped with clean-up bills.

* Possible hazardous places

Potentially contaminated sites include old landfills, boatyards, saw mills, petrol stations, spraypainters, airfields, railway yards, engineering workshops, gas works or any industry where oil, chemicals and toxic substances have been used. Even old P labs are added to the list.

In rural areas, sites of farms (with abandoned sheep dips), orchards, vineyards - some already carved up into lifestyle blocks and subdivisions - are tagged as potentially hazardous.

- HERALD ON SUNDAY