Waiwhetu ooze spill sadly not an isolated incident

by Catherine Delahunty

Yesterday’s spill of toxic ooze on the road in Lower Hutt indicates a lack of rigour in the handling of dangerous materials.

The Waiwhetu ooze is heavily contaminated with lead.  Lead is known to have serious effects on the health and learning development of small children.

This exposure of the public to toxic material is unfortunately not an isolated incident.

In Matata people have been exposed to contaminated dust blowing from the Matata wetland reconstruction in the Bay of Plenty recently, not to mention the risks to the residents of Mapua during the problematic clean-up of that site.

I believe these incidents occur because of everyone from the Ministry for the Environment to Councils and shape contractors downplaying the toxicity risks to humans and the environment when handling these types of contaminated material.

This is not deliberate  - but it is a serious concern.  No one wants to believe that a single exposure to a small amount of a toxic substance could cause serious illness but neither can anyone safely say it won’t affect vulnerable individuals.

The Green Party wants all contaminated sites to be dealt with responsibly and cautiously so that communities do not get exposed to any more risk.

Note: I am working on a Members Bill to clarify the liability issues for site clean-up but we also need standards and monitoring of these wastes which will protect everyone during transportation and clean- up.