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Auckland Council is highlighting the importance of early reporting, following the pollution of a waterway in D’Oyly Reserve, Stanmore Bay.
Residents reported seeing the water turn “milky white”, and a large amount of dead eels, some very large, floating in the stream.
The council was notified late on Thursday, November 9, that the problem had been noticed the day before.
Council’s acting compliance manager, David Pawson, says an after-hours pollution officer attended the site and observed 40–50 dead eels in the stream.
By that time, only pockets of white foam remained.
“The discharge had ceased, and he was therefore not able to trace the source or identify the contaminant,” Pawson says.
Council received a further complaint the following day, related to the same incident and the officer who attended this time counted between 10 and 20 dead eels between Shadon Place and Knott Road.
A contractor removed the dead eels from the stream.
Pawson says that any delay in reporting these kinds of incidents is likely to mean that Council is unable to identify the contaminant or hold anyone accountable.
“We have staff across the region who will respond to pollution incidents within one hour,” he says. “In this case, the incident was reported the day after the discharge occurred. We carried out the usual tests of the water, but unless there is an ongoing discharge the contaminant will have flowed through and is no longer detectable. This is what appears to have happened here.”
Council reminds the public that it is illegal to pour paint and other substances into waterways and stormwater systems, and that doing so can have significant environmental consequences. Anyone who witnesses contaminants being discharged into creeks and streams should immediately call the council’s pollution hotline, 09 377 3107.
