A two-door coupe style vehicle was found in the Tauranga River at Wardlaw Glade.
A two-door coupe style vehicle was found in the Tauranga River at Wardlaw Glade.
A rusting car body found in a popular swimming hole is just one of many cars the Bay of Plenty Regional Council may have to pull out of rivers this year.
The two-door coupe-style car is lying in the Tauranga River at Waimana’s Wardlaw Glade, about 20km south of Whakatāne,and it was accompanied by an assortment of whiteware and other rubbish dumped at the swimming spot’s car park.
Regional council compliance team leader Trudy Richards said the car was reported abandoned on Tuesday, and the council would arrange for a contractor to remove the car body from the river once weather conditions were suitable.
“If feasible, we will also retrieve the whiteware.”
Pollution outside of the river bed typically fell under the responsibility of the territorial authority, which in this case was Whakatāne District Council.
However, as Wardlaw Glade was alongside State Highway 2, it was unclear whether this would be the responsibility of the New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi, which was responsible for rubbish collection on and alongside state highways.
Richards said the regional council collaborated with the agency and local councils on costs wherever possible.
A variety of whiteware was also dumped at the Wardlaw Glade carpark.
Last year, the regional council received 28 reports to its Pollution Hotline regarding vehicles abandoned in waterways across the region, from Katikati to Waiwoeka and surrounding areas.
The cost of removal for a car varied depending on site accessibility, the need for traffic management, and potential fuel or oil discharge but, on average, each removal cost ratepayers about $2000.
Richards said the regional council had not been able to assess the environmental impact of the car body on the river because of a lack of information on how long the vehicle had been in the waterway, whether it was fully intact, or whether it contained fuel or other fluids when it entered the water.
“It is always disheartening to witness such disregard for our environment through the careless dumping of waste,” she said.
Transport agency system manager Andy Oakley said maintenance contractors were dealing with an “increasingly awful job”, cleaning up after illegal rubbish dumping at rest areas along SH2.
“It’s been a growing problem over the last couple of years at this rest stop and others, and can vary from domestic household rubbish, to large household items, such as beds, chairs, headboards and washing machines, to broken toys and pushchairs.
“Stopping at rest areas to pick up litter was costly in terms of both money and, more importantly, time, when they could be prioritising other work that is vital to motorists, such as fixing potholes.”
Oakley said littering in public places was illegal and the transport agency would love the support of the community to report any sightings of fly tipping to NZ Police or call NZTA on 0800 4 HIGHWAYS (0800 44 44 49).
- LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.
