Government will help with soil tests

By BERNARD ORSMAN

The Government is prepared to contribute to the testing of thousands of Auckland properties but Environment Minister Marian Hobbs says there is no point doing so until the Auckland City Council provides better information.

"If we were to test every household we would not necessarily prove anything, because you can take soil from the front lawn and find it is all clear but that doesn't necessarily clear the back, left-hand patch," Ms Hobbs said. "What you really need to know is the history of the subdivisions and that is a council matter."

Her comments follow calls from councillor Vern Walsh, a member of the Labour Party-aligned City Vision ticket, for the Government to provide funds to test the soil of tens of thousands of properties throughout NZ that may be on former horticultural sites.

"It can't ignore the real concern people have that they're caught between a rock and a hard place with council, which has to identify past land use on land information memorandum (Lim) reports and the damage that might do to property values," Mr Walsh said.

Ms Hobbs said the Government had invited Auckland City Council to apply to its "contaminated soil testing regime" fund but Mr Walsh said it applied only to properties that had passed a "high-risk assessment" and would fund only 40 to 60 per cent of the cost. Soil tests cost $2000 to $3000 for an average-sized property.

At the first public meeting to discuss the dirty dirt scare on Monday, residents vented their anger at the council for tagging properties as potentially contaminated in the absence of any hard evidence.

The council started putting the information on Lim reports this week after informing 4872 landowners they would have to pay for tests to find out if their properties contained dangerous levels of DDT, arsenic, lead and copper.

Ms Hobbs said she had asked for a report from the Environment Ministry about the requirements for councils to notify potentially affected properties on Lim reports.

City planning manager John Duthie yesterday said aerial photos taken in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s were the most accurate information to identify potentially affected properties on former orchard, market garden and glasshouse sites.

He said the council had looked at some subdivisions to find out what might have happened to the soil but the reports were not comprehensive. The soil history of every potentially affected property had not been investigated.

"There could be some cases where part of the topsoil has been taken away for whatever reason. The council wouldn't have a record of that and we are accepting the anecdotal evidence of people who said that did happen," Mr Duthie said.

Ms Hobbs had some advice for affected homeowners: "In the meantime I think what I would like to say to families is do some basic things: if you are growing vegetables wash the vegetables."

She said if people were outside, they should change their shoes and not bring dirt into the house.

These were "normal precautions" she would expect of anyone. "I personally never eat vegetables without washing them first."

Meanwhile, two women, Sheridan Robinson and Chris Moore, have formed an action group for concerned residents.

Ms Robinson, whose Avondale home was marketed as an organic garden when she bought it 10 years ago, said the group's top priority was to stop the council tagging Lim reports until it could prove a site was contaminated.

The group can be contacted on (09) 828-7999 or at chrisrice21@hotmail.com. A public meeting will be held tonight at Sacred Heart College auditorium in West Tamaki Rd, Glendowie, at 7 o'clock.