MEDIA RELEASE

Environment Bay of Plenty staff re-open drain

For immediate release: Tuesday May 22, 2007

A Whakatane waterway contaminated by industrial products caused by a truck accident is expected to re-open today.

The accident occurred after a truck overturned yesterday, halfway between Whakatane and Thornton spilling 20 tonne of rosin into a nearby drain.

Environment Bay of Plenty principal compliance officer Steve Pickles says staff immediately contained the spill by damming a 600 metre stretch of drain.

“The rosin does cause environmental effects when in contact with waterways; however our advice is that once it is removed from the waterways and mixed with soil, there will be no ongoing environmental risk.”

“We have pumped the drain contents into a large holding pit before processing it further. The drain will also be excavated to ensure no residual contamination remains, before removing the dams.”

Rosin is used to waterproof supermarket cardboard boxes.

Bill Kerrison of the Kokopu Trust and Environment Bay of Plenty staff also rescued stressed eels from the drain and released them into the Rangitaiki River.

“Unfortunately quite a few eels died but Bill and the team worked extremely hard to rescue the majority of them.”

ENDS

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