SEWAGE FARM DANGER

Press, Volume XCIX, Issue 29154, 15 March 1960, Page 11

SEWAGE FARM DANGER

Boys Run Across Area s s 1 Wild tomatoes are ripening, and ■ grass and tussock are growing on three apparently-safe areas of 8 the Christchurch Drainage Board’s - sewage farm at Bromley—but i they are rooted in a brittle crust a of dried sludge only a foot thick, - Underneath are “tanks” 10ft deep - and each containing 2,000,000 gal- - ions of liquid sewage. Two unknown schoolboys were seen by a staff member to run across these areas on Sunday and get away. “Had they paused, it is probable that the surface crust would have broken through and the boys could have been in the same predicament as if they had fallen through Ice,” said the sewage treatment engineer (Mr D. L. Steven) yesterday. Warning Notices Very large warning notices putting the whole sewage farm area out of bounds to the public had been placed all round the farm. Mr Steven said they were not “ there for fun. Apart from the - sludge tanks, there were miles J of open drains distributing sewage ; over the farm paddocks. 1 Had the boys on Sunday fallen r through the crust, they could easily have become stuck on the ; wet sludge at the bottom with * the level of liquid sewage over their heads, Mr Steven said. ’ Mr Steven explained that - tomatoes came to grow on the ’ crust through seeds being passed 1 through the human system and B carried in sewage to the farm. B Grass and tussock seed were - probably blown on to the sur- - face. r