Pipeline control sought

Press, 17 August 1983, Page 5

Pipeline control sought

The right to monitor and control the Canterbury Frozen Meat pipeline for effluent discharge into the Waimakariri River had to be retained, said a Christchurch Drainage Board member, Mr M. J. Dobson, last evening. “It is not the company’s pipeline, it is the board’s. It does not belong to C.F.M. but to us. If people see effluent not up to standard being discharged it is the board they will point to,” he said.

He was commenting on a report from the board’s engineer and a letter from the North Canterbury Catchment Board’s decision on the application for water rights from the company. The engineer reported that the objections of the Drainage Board to the company’s water right application had been met. The board had opposed an application for a full 10-year right for treated effluent discharge to the Waimakariri and another for an emergency right to use the existing pipeline to the

South Branch of the river. The timing for construction of the pipeline linking the C.F.M. plant with the proposed discharge structure at the old highway bridge- on the river was favourable to the board, said the report. The pipeline would not be just a C.F.M. facility but a public facility in the name of the Drainage Board. The board should have the right to check on the standard of effluent through the pipeline, Mr Dobson said.

C.F.M. was one of the biggest employers in the north of Christchurch and had made great steps to ensure that the effluent discharged was of the required standard, said Mr J. de C. Hanafin. The company had plans to install a chemical purification plant. The matter had been covered already by the appropriate authorities and the future of such a large employer should not be jeopardised by questioning small points, he said. The board chairman, Mr C. H. Russell, assured mem-

bers that the board’s rights to inspect the pipeline and its contents at any time were protected under its trade waste by-laws. Petitions Twenty-seven residents of Sumnervale Estate, north of Sumnervale Drive on Clifton Hill, have petitioned the Drainage Board and the Christchurch City Council about excavation and building work on the estate. Board representatives met Catchment Board staff on the site late in July. The engineer, Mr H. P. Hunt, reported that the drainage problems worrying residents were in areas administered by the City Council. The board was happy to co-operate with the council on drainage matters in the area, the residents will be told. A second petition from 23 residents of Wakefield Avenue was received. It dealt with residents’ concern for the piping of drains along the front of their

properties. Many requests had been made in past years by some of the residents for the Sumner Main Drain to be piped past their frontages. The board agreed to meet 50 per cent of the cost of piping the drain, with residents meeting the rest. The Sumner Main Drain piping downstream of the properties was being met half by the board and half by a subdivider who had developed the area. Finance would be available from the board for the residents’ share'. The cost of the job would be $lO,OOO. Asbestos Staff will look at alternatives to using asbestos cement pipes after a ban imposed by the Labourers’ Union because of possible health hazards associated with asbestos. Supervisory staff took over the work of cutting the pipes after union members ceased. Staff will look at the future use of the pipes and the alternatives.