Hawke's Bay Regional Council today released to the media the full database of current hazardous sites in Hawke’s Bay. On Monday 12 October the Council will also release the original 1995 list of unverified hazardous sites compiled by Worley Consultants.
This information should still be treated with caution by both news media and landowners, as the database is a ‘snapshot in time’ of data current to Tuesday 6 October. The data it contains is being continually updated as new information comes to hand. Sites have been reclassified where it is now known that no hazardous substances were stored, or where the original information was faulty, i.e. no street address details.
As a result, the current Hawke’s Bay Regional Council land use register contains 1494 sites. The substantial decrease has been due to work by Council staff to clarify the list, plus responses from property owners with additional information.
Earlier this year Council was instructed by the Ombudsman to disclose sites identified in the 1995 Hazardous Activity and Industry List or HAIL list, following a media request for the information. This original list has been treated with great caution due to the inaccuracies of the listings, compiled using searches through telephone books from the 1930s onwards. The original list included unverified sites where hazardous substances may have been stored, confirmed contaminated sites, plus sites suspected to be contaminated but remaining unconfirmed.
Considerable work has been done by the Regional Council since 1995 to verify the status of many of the listed properties. A list of priority sites was developed first, and action has been taken by Councils and private companies on high risk sites such as landfills, gas works sites and petrol stations. Regular collections of unwanted agrichemicals have also taken place over the past 10 years. This work has resulted in all known high-risk sites being remediated or now being under investigation.
In August, Hawke’s Bay Regional Council wrote to owners of the 3102 sites on the original list. The letters informed them about the list categories, to provide the site data held by Council and advise them what the listings meant. Regional Council staff have been using responses to these letters to continue improving the quality and accuracy of information on the current list.
As directed by the Ombudsman, the original 1995 HAIL list will be made available to media on Monday 12 October.
“Despite continued reservations about the wisdom of the Ombudsman’s ruling, we are meeting our obligations. However we trust that the media will take a responsible stance and publish the updated list as well, or in place of, the inaccurate original list. We will continue to provide advice to any property owners concerned about their property’s inclusion on the list,” said Chairman Alan Dick.
The Onekawa residential area in Napier was on the original HAIL list as it was developed over several decades on top of a landfill that has been closed and sealed since the 1960s.
Expert advice is that there is no offsite risk of contaminants travelling by air or water. Further investigations have also confirmed the smaller size of the old landfill, reducing the original list from 286 to 149 properties.
The Napier City and Regional Councils are investigating testing on Onekawa Park as aerial photos from the 1950s indicate more intensive landfilling here than in any other area. Councils will be paying attention to the thickness of the landfill cap.
Hawke’s Bay Regional Council will be working with Napier City Council to contact these property owners to update them and asks that property owners who have received letters contact the Regional Council to speak to staff about the status of their property if they wish.
“People have taken the opportunity to contact us to clarify information on their site and provide further information, and as a result Council staff have been able to assess and update the list, which will improve its usefulness over time,” said Chairman Alan Dick. |