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Cook Islands environmental campaigner, Andy Kirkwood, said Rarotonga is facing what he calls a sludge crisis.
Truck moving sludge from Rarotonga water treatment site to dump at Papua
Photo: Credit: Justine Flanagan, Te Vai Ora Maori.
The island s new water reticulation system, Te Mato Vai, was officially launched last week by Prime Minister Mark Brown.
But Mr Kirkwood said the government is facing a dilemma about what to do with the sludge that accummulates at the water intakes high in the hills of Rarotonga. That comes with the need to manage how the system is going to operate given the 100 year life ccycle. So we are talking 120 shipping container loads of the sludge every year for the next 100 years. It s not a problem that s going to become less, it s going to always be more, and that should have been considered before making the decision to begin operation, he said