The sediment dredging operations – part of the Kopeopeo Canal Remediation Project – started earlier this week, according to the Bay of Plenty Regional Council’s latest update.
Acting Project Manager, Ken Tarboton , said that the milestone was significant for the team and for the wider community.
“This week the contractor started removing contaminated sediment from the main canal and moving it to a contained area where it can be kept safely and eventually remediated, ” Mr Tarboton said.
“ This is a huge milestone – to finally start removing contaminated sediment from the canal after many years of hard work by a lot of people and leave such a positive legacy for future generations. ”
In stages, the project will remove, safely store and bioremediate up to 40,000m³ of sediment from the canal using cutter-suction dredge methodology. The canal was contaminated between the 1950s and late 1980s as a result of stormwater discharges from a former sawmill, which treated timber using pentachlorophenol (PCP).
The estimated cost of the project is $15.5 million and is equally funded by the Ministry for the Environment through the Contaminated Sites Remediation Fund (CSRF) and Bay of Plenty Regional Council.
[mappress mapid=”24808″]