The Kopeopeo Canal Remediation Project has marked a significant milestone with sediment dredging from the canal under way.
Acting project manager Ken Tarboton said the milestone was significant for the team and 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.
"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 particular, it is time we remember Joe Harawira and SWAP [Sawmill Workers Against Poisons] who would be proud to reach this point," Tarboton said.
In stages, the project will remove, safely store and bioremediate up to 40,000cu m 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).