Hydraulic oil in river

Press, 18 December 1985, Page 9

Hydraulic oil in river

The Christchurch Drainage Board is considering taking legal action against a Sockburn vehicle firm for a substantial leakage of waste hydraulic oil into the Heathcote River. The leakage was discovered yesterday. The board’s deputy chief engineer, Mr Don Cooper, said last evening that a tank containing the oil sprang a leak, about ground level, which was not noticed immediately.

“It is difficult to quantify the amount of oil that leaked into the river via Curletts Drain,” he said. “The firm has indicated that because a contractor periodically took the oil away it did not know exactly how much oil was in the tank when the leak

occurred.” Mr Cooper declined to name the firm. He said the board was first informed by a member of the public. At first the spillage just looked like rainwater off the roads. He suspected that much of the oil was carried out to the Heathcote Estuary and did not think that any special clean-up would be necessary.

Because the spillage was of light hydraulic oil there was little danger to birdlife. Most birds flew away from the affected area, Mr Cooper said. “I don’t know if any of the birds got their feathers coated in oil but I don’t think there were any disastrous effects,” he said.