White `pollution' upsets river users

A white substance invading the Taylor River from a stormwater drain has provoked outrage from visitors who were guests on the River Queen last weekend.

"I find it outrageous that as New Zealand relies so heavily on it's clean, green image that highly suspicious looking pollution is not only being leaked into a beautiful waterway but blatantly in front of the River Queen, one of Marlborough's most recognisable tourist attractions," wedding guest Tom Hunt said.

Other guests, who had travelled from across New Zealand for the wedding, were horrified by the sight, which continued for at least 15 minutes Mr Hunt said.

Aucklander Neville Gibbs was also among the party-goers on the boat and took photographs. He is a social studies teacher and is designing a unit for Year 13 students to pass on to teachers' college trainees about river ecology.

"I was curious to know what kind of substance it was, whether it was milk or something more toxic, like bleach. I hope they find out." he said.

The substance could also resemble white paint. River Queen owner Chris Makin said pollutants had come out of that drain on more than one occasion.

"I have phoned the council over it before and they say it's very difficult to track where it comes from."said Mr Makin, who added that in the past pollution could be seen coming out of the drain for more than an hour.

Marlborough District Council environment protection officer Mark Caldwell said he understood the drain services quite a large catchment so his team would need to be alerted straight away.

"We work back to try to trace where it's coming from. It can be quite difficult. It's a matter of going along and lifting manholes. If people notice these things they need to ring us straight away. We're very keen to trace anything down like that."

Mr Makin said the discharge could be a big turn-off to patrons of his business, particularly if it killed fish.

"You can see the river so clearly (normally) ... visitors can see trout, mullet, eels it's great. So it's very disappointing when it gets cloudy after rain, but this is a different kind of cloud. It's pollution."

There are five officers in the council's environmental protection team. The last big pollution investigation they worked on involved eels dying in a waterway on Nikau Drive. The team door-knocked the neighbourhood but never found the source of the pollution.

- The Marlborough Express