Petition to be presented on Waimak. River bank

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32707, 9 September 1971, Page 12

Petition to be presented on Waimak. River bank

A petition signed. by l 1600 persons protesting ; against pollution of the i Waimakariri River will be I presented to the Associate ] Minister of Finance and i member of Parliament for Rangiora (Mr H. E. L. i Pickering) on the banks of 1 the river on Saturday. i Mr Pickering will be taken [ for a jet-boat ride from Kaiapoi up to the motorway j bridges and back down to the , mouth of the river at ( Kairaki, where the petition ( will be presented to him at. 9.45 a.m. [ The petition says, in part: “This stretch of river 1 (from the motorway bridges i to the mouth) is the most : popular for recreation, par-1

ticularly from the fishing point of view, in the whole river system. On the other hand, it is also the most polluted and effluent-filled reach of water in the river. “Despite official assurances that something is being done, there has been no improvement in the state of the river, which is now virtually an open sewer. “Unless immediate, positive action is taken, the lower Waimakariri will become a dead river, unable to support fish life and will be unsuitable for use as a recreational area.” The petition was organised by several anglers who fish the lower stretches of thfe river, and was launched in March. I