Our Stream is not a Dump Site! by AJ and Matthew

Can you believe a bed-head has been dumped off the bridge!

Why do people dump shredded paper on the Elm Park Reserve?

So much more shredded paper... it could be recycled!

Can you spot the plastic bag?

Today we went down to see the stream on the last day of the term to see if the rain had cleaned it up.  It looked better and there was no sewage smell but we noticed some things had been dumped.  We saw a bed head by the bridge and a stainless steel door-handle.
There was plastic in the stream which made us sad.

But we were happy to see that the Council has removed the orange cone. Thank you to whoever took this out.

We also saw that a tree has fallen over across the stream.  Perhaps this tree is not the right tree for the side of a stream.

The Big Tree is looking free of rubbish.
(photos by AJ)

The Sad Day for Our Stream

Last Monday a parent from our school phoned the Council Pollution Hotline to report that there was a pungent odour at the stream and lots of eels were dead.  She also alerted our school office and we got the sad news.

On Tuesday morning I went down to the stream with Miss Hughes and we saw very brown dirty water with a brown stain of what smelt like sewage on the high water mark of the bank. There was also a strong chemical odour that was probably ammonia - it was very nasty and gave us a headache for the rest of the day... 

It is best to stay away from the stream.

When the Eco Warriors turned up to go off to do their usual clean up on Thursday lunchtime they learned the news and were very sad.  We tried to phone the Council to hear when it would safe to resume our work but there was no answer so we left a message.

We phoned WaiCare and told them and Kate Loman Smith went to investigate and alert the Council again.

We hope there is lots of rain to flush out the mucky sewage but worry about this pollution going into the Tamaki River and to the sea.

Looking south west from the bridge
- dirty brown water

Looking east from the bridge