Bypass a risk to estuary?

MARION VAN DIJK/ The Nelson Mail

CONCERNED: Elspeth Collier, of Apple Valley Rd East, on part of the Ruby Bay bypass saline dump site near Dominion Rd turnoff and the estuary near Higgs Reserve.

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Fears have been raised the Ruby Bay bypass could have a lasting impact on the ecologically sensitive Waimea Inlet, with renewed calls for a management plan for the estuary.

However, the Department of Conservation says that while some important ecological values will be lost at the Waimea Estuary because of the work, it will be offset by restoration work at the road's end at the Moutere Inlet.

The line of the new road for the $21.8 million bypass will cut across the estuary margin at Trafalgar Rd and Higgs Reserve, with work at Higgs Reserve already well under way.

Elspeth Collier, whose property lies between these two estuary coves, said both areas with their fresh water and estuarine plants were well known as important nesting habitat for the endangered banded rail.

Ms Collier said Higgs Reserve was widely known to be of high ecological value and she understood when it was a DOC reserve there were various plans to restore it. "This area of high value has ended up a dump site, and they have got plans to do the same at Trafalgar Rd."

Ms Collier and other groups such as Forest and Bird were astounded that despite the existence of the Resource Management Act and DOC the road had been allowed to cut through land with such high ecological values.

Ms Collier was one of a number of concerned submitters to the Tasman District Council's long-term plan calling for a management plan for the Waimea Inlet, which is considered of international and national significance.

She was concerned the stormwater design for the road seemed to direct the stormwater into two channels and straight into the estuary, while in other projects the storm water run-off was treated to prevent pollution from vehicles and the road surface entering sensitive waterways.

She was also worried that the area between the old and new road at Higgs Reserve was being filled with clay and saline material.

This area was previously a fresh water swamp which acted as a giant sponge in heavy rain protecting the estuary from direct run off from the road. "It will be solid ground at approximately the same level as the road, and will have completely lost its function as swamp land, therefore adding to the runoff into the estuary."

Department of Conservation Motueka area manager Martin Rodd said decisions regarding the road's route were made around 1999.

Mr Rodd said considerable discussions were had about the ecological values of the coastal margin the road would cut through.

Mr Rodd said while it was recognised Higgs Reserve and Dominion Rd were high value areas, it was agreed that significant work restoring the inlet where the road came out at Mariri, near the Moutere Inlet, would offset that loss of habitat.

Tasman District Council environment and planning manager Dennis Bush-King said the minister of conservation signed off the route the bypass would take at the Trafalgar Rd and Higgs Reserve.

"The ecological values of those areas have more than adequately been taken into account and sometimes when you undertake these large public works there are some compromises that you have to take in order to balance a whole range of competing objectives."

Mr Bush-King also said he believed the New Zealand Transport Agency and the contractors were doing a good job at managing sediment control and undertaking some up-to-date work to minimise environmental impacts of the work.

NZTA Tasman regional director Deborah Hume said she wanted to assure people every effort was being made to minimise the effects of construction on the estuary and the community.

In some cases the work exceeded the resource consent stipulations, she said.

The work included raising the level of the road near the estuary so noise did not unduly affect local wildlife and allowed for native fish species to swim underneath the highway, she said.

The 10.7km bypass will cut west and north from the existing coastal highway at Dominion Rd before rejoining it at Harley Rd in Tasman Village. It is expected to be completed next year.

- © Fairfax NZ News