Dirty river rafting no pleasure trip

ROBERT KITCHEN/The Dominion Post

HIDDEN DEPTHS: Russel Norman tackles a polluted stretch of the Hutt River with the aid of Green Party worker Robert Ashe.

Green Party co-leader Russel Norman agrees his latest venture, The Dirty Rivers Rafting Tour, sounds like something rock band AC/DC would embark on.

In reality it involves Dr Norman and supporters paddling down New Zealand rivers to draw attention to their poor water quality and ask the Government to clean them up.

The tour started on Tuesday near Melling on the Hutt River and continues intermittently until the end of next month.

"But the tour is done dirt cheap," Dr Norman said, quoting a line from the AC/DC song Dirty Deeds.

The state of some rivers went against New Zealand's clean and green image.

"A lot of our lowland rivers ... are heavily polluted. There was a warning just last week about swimming in part of the Hutt River."

Water quality in the Hutt River was adversely affected by agricultural runoff from its Upper Hutt tributaries and stormwater and urban runoff further downstream.

"It's about cleaning up both the urban and pastoral catchments," Dr Norman said.

He hoped he would not swallow too much polluted river water during his tour of the country's dirtiest rivers but was up to date with his vaccinations "just in case".

This weekend, he will take his kayak to the Waihou River, near Thames, for the second leg of his tour.

- © Fairfax NZ News