by Russel Norman
I’ve been looking into Fonterra’s discharge of condensate into the Mangatainoka River in the Wairarapa, which leads to the Manawatu. You can read it about it here.
[UPDATE - Fonterra just announced that they are reconsidering their application and "decided to look at alternatives, such as irrigating to land or diverting through the local town waste treatment plant". Good on you Fonterra.]
Published in Environment & Resource Management by Russel Norman on Fri, October 29th, 2010
Tags: Fonterra, Manawatu, Russel Norman
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on the trolls and those who are unable to keep on topic
Silly idea though, costly to set up, probably “risky”, involves “unproven” technology at this scale, and probably a zillion other reasons why a solution like this is impractical and of no interest to Dairy NZ and Fonterra. Surprise me Fonterra, and announce solutions like this for dairy farms and milk processing plants are a win-win for all and part of a strategic plan to reduce pollution of waterways, reduce energy demands, and increase local production of sustainable bio-fuels….!
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i heard you on nat-rad today…
..and you..and the other speakers..presented a compelling case against fonterra being given permission to continue this abomination for another 20 yrs…
i wd directly credit their u-turn to your combined efforts..
(and the strength/power in the arguments was in the absence of passion…
..the facts/problem was presented clearly/matter-of-fact-ly..
..and most important..an at hand/do-able solution/alternative was also presented…
..fonterra have the brains to know/see you cd have run and run with that one…
…what’s next on the to-do list..?
phil(whoar.co.nz)
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For too long, there has been an attitude, that the world & especially the rivers are a giant sewer that magically takes away the human waste ‘problems’.. but I think many are finally realising that it doesn’t work that way.. plastics, chemical pollutants & other effluent, stays in the environment & often get into the food chain & the current water supply.. we’ve only got ONE PLANET.. its time to start treating it with a little more respect, for the lives of the generations to come & a future they MAY have !!!! Kia-ora
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Warning threadjack…but slightly on topic…
It’s always fascinated me that the Manawatu river manages to cut right through the main divide from east to west. Does anyone know the geology of how that came to be?
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Thanks Phil, th excellent coverage by the DomPost (lead story on Friday) really helped enormously.
And samian, it is one of those amazing rivers that just carried on heading westwards as the mountain range pushed up. I touched on it briefly here – http://www.greens.org.nz/misc-documents/manawatu-old-man-needs-our-help-get-sea. But no doubt it is written up somewhere more authoritative!
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guy – any bio-gas produced would be better used powering their fleet of vehicles rather than on-site energy use. We can power them from the grid but we can’t power their trucks from the grid.
Trevor.
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hmm good point, in a “sustainable energy system”, vehicles should at least be dual-fuel, if not multi-fuel capable.
For eg, diesels *can* run on natural gas or ethanol supplementary to fuel oil, and spark ign I/C multi-fuel is already well-established. In the case of ethanol, Scania for eg. have already developed diesel buses/engines that can run on almost 100% ethanol, so even heavier transport has alternatives. It’s not as impossible or difficult as many people realise, and when the need is great, solutions will deploy.
It’s a matter of weighing the benefits and creating a working model.
In the short term, the do-able suitable solution is what is needed, and any efforts to achive this or any breathing space alternative need to be applauded and pursued. And may well turn out to be better than more complex efforts if land productivity is improved for eg.
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