POLLUTION IN ESTUARY

Press, Volume XCI, Issue 27674, 2 June 1955, Page 3

POLLUTION IN ESTUARY

STUDY OF POSSIBLE SOURCES SURVEY OF AVON AND HEATHCOTE RIVERS .<J' or man X years, the cause of .the suong smell coming from the Estuary at low tide has been a matter for speculation. River pollution is one or many theories propounded, and one which is receiving the attentjpn of tne Dominion Laboratory. , As a city which was continually expanding, Christchurch was faced with drainage problems, said Mr F V S £ ott i engineer to the Christcnurch Drainage Board, which is cooperating with the laboratory in its research.

Mr Scott said that both the Heath£°i Avon rivers were used to •♦u i s ?^ ve the problems associated with land drainage. The measure of the success achieved was at present being thought of in terms of the amount of river pollution caused by factors such as drainage. Apart from tne tributaries, such as Dudley creek and Jacksons creek, there were all the storm-water drains which brought flood water from the side channels of the streets.

There was also the intricate system oi open drains which served the Marshland and Halswell areas, and which might carry small quantities of polluting matter from animal sources, said Mr Scott.

There was very little factory pollution of the Avon, except in accidental cases, where the material first flowed in the side-channels of the streets, he Si?/ ' S h ?. re of . course > major facln Heathcote river, and the final answer to this problem be the provision of a trade waste Scott*" m “* e area concerned ’” said Mr

Laboratorv Test* . Comprehensive and bac . tB ,£ ts were being carried out , Dominion laboratory in each river at fortnightly intervals, said a member of the laboratory’s staff yesterday. Profile studies of the rivers were being made, and these had enestabHshing nine sampling ° n the Avon and 10 on the c £ te ‘ The conclusions which could be arrived at from the tests could not be determined until the study, covering perhaps a year, was complete.

pie studies would be of considerable value because they would show the conditions of the rivers, and the recorded« present condition could be compared with the conditions which the rivers might have in future, when further expansion of Christchurch city had taken place, said the laboratory worker.