Westland dump rubbish washed away in Fox River floods reaches Fiordland

Thursday, 4 April 2019

Flood water surges down the Fox River on the West Coast after extreme weather, in March 2019.

Rubbish from an old exposed landfill in the Fox River has now spread about 300km along the West Coast.

Extreme weather caused an old Westland District Council dump beside the river to erode on March 26. Rubbish floated downstream and was washing up about 300km along South Westland's pristine beaches.

Officials confirmed on Thursday rubbish from the eroded dump had reached Fiordland.

Locals cleaning up Gillespies Beach on the West Coast.

Westland District Council spokeswoman Emma Rae said contractors had been able to divert the river away from the dump.

**READ MORE:

Rubbish from a dump, which was operating for 40 years near the Fox River, has been strewn all over South Westland.

* West Coast volunteers need urgent help to clean up beaches after dump eroded in storm

* Scale of beach cleanup after West Coast rubbish dump burst 'big, nasty'

Earthworks has diverted the Fox River from an old exposed rubbish dump near Fox Glacier.

* Decades worth of old rubbish strewn over 'pristine' West Coast beaches

* Asbestos dump found on the West Coast

A massive cleanup effort is required to deal with the rubbish spill.

* Torrential rain causes chaos on the West Coast**

'This has stopped the flow of rubbish into the river. The next step is to install rock protection to the area.

Rubbish is polluting about 300km of West Coast beaches after an old dump was exposed in severe weather.

A map showing the spread of the rubbish from Okarito down to Fiordland.

Rubbish has been flowing into pristine West Coast areas.

'This work provides a short term solution while a longer term plan to secure the site is put in place.'

Rubbish flowing down the river had been seen on the coast as far north as Okarito, and south to Martins Bay in Fiordland.

Conservation Minister Eugenie Sage said on Monday the issue was 'much bigger than can be dealt with by a few people working on a cleanup'.

Rae said a massive cleanup effort was under way. As well as staff from the council, the South Westland Coastal Clean-up group is co-ordinating volunteers, including the Student Volunteer Army.

Bay of Plenty council staff who worked on managing the response to the Rena Disaster have been flown into help.

'As well as volunteers assisting with the clean-up, the local business community has put their weight in behind the clean-up, with staff time, accommodation and food being provided for volunteers and clean-up teams,' Rae said.

Flights to determine the extent of the spread of the rubbish would be undertaken over the next couple of days.

Westland Mayor Bruce Smith said the Fox River dump dated back to 1948, and was capped in the late 80s or early 90s.

He said the land was used to build a concrete-floored recycling centre that was about 20 metres away from the river.

People should contact the council on foxlandfillresponse@westlanddc.govt.nz if they have information about rubbish spreading further than this area, and bilofro@gmail.com to volunteer.