Kids help clean up shoreline

Rotorua Primary School students Shivarn Leonard (left), Rotohiko Piripi and Temungaake Swanson, all 12, took part in the "Love Your Water" clean-up. Photo/Ben Fraser

Broken bottles, discarded syringes, razor blades - Rotorua students have discovered the Lake Rotorua shoreline can quickly become a lethal rubbish tip after heavy rain.

As part of a weeklong community environment awareness project Ohinemutu residents, together with Rotorua Primary School, Rotorua Intermediate School and Western Heights High School students, collected 20 bags of rubbish near the mouth of Utuhina Stream on Friday.

Much of the trash had swept downstream during recent rain, said Bay of Plenty Regional Council community engagement adviser Janie Stevenson.

The four-hour clean-up, along with the planting of 200 native plant grasses, was a joint effort involving the regional council, Rotorua District Council, Keep Rotorua Beautiful, Rotorua Youth Environment Forum and award winning Sustainable Coastlines, of Auckland.

A series of "Love Your Water" workshops ran alongside clean-ups in different locations around the city throughout the week, Ms Stevenson said.

"The students and public have learnt more about how they can help keep Rotorua's waterways clean by joining in a clean-up and planting at the Utuhina Stream mouth." Residents hoped the grass species planted near the stream mouth and lake shore would adapt to the thermal ground where soil temperatures were high.

The area will be re-assessed later in the year. The Rotorua Youth Environment Forum workshops had proved invaluable in helping encourage students and residents to work together to care for Rotorua waterways, said forum spokesman Tim Bradley.

"We have been surprised by not only the quantity collected but also the type of rubbish collected," he said. "We went over the area three to four times and found rubbish buried in the soil - it's become almost part of the landscape."