Source: Radio New Zealand
The sewage spill came at the peak of the oyster season. Nick Monro
Watercare has fulfilled a promise to give another $1 million to beleaguered oyster farmers north of Auckland after a catastrophic sewage failure.
It’s after an initial $1m was given last month after the spill obliterated crops in late October.
Watercare agreed to give that money to 10 affected farmers.
It said the second tranche is so it can give support them while an independent assessment on losses is still being done.
Watercare has previously said it expects that assessment to be finalised in the new year.
Confirmation of the second payment comes days after oyster farmers expressed their frustration, desperation and said they were losing faith.
Farmer Tom Waters said he had only been able to farm for about six weeks of this year and bills and debts had mounted with little time to harvest.
He had already twice considered closing the doors of his business.
“This year’s been diabolical, I wouldn’t even be in business if it hadn’t been for lovely people who had donated and kept me going,” he told Checkpoint on 18 December.
The overflow was a power surge combined with monitoring and alert systems failing.
More than 1000 cubic metres of sewage overflowed, contaminating thousands of oysters in the Mahurangi River and stopping harvesting for nearly a month.
It came at the peak of the season.
“This incident should not have happened,” Watercare chief operations officer Mark Bourne said on Wednesday.
Oyster farmers have faced ongoing contamination problems for several years, but Watercare said the October spill was unique.
The payments go toward losses directly caused by that overflow and not other historical losses caused by the likes of weather or consented overflows
“These matters are governed separately under environmental consents and regulatory frameworks,” it said.
Watercare said it will be contacting farmers individually and confidentially to discuss the outcomes of the loss assessment once it is finished.
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
