Dry spell: Region scrambles to adapt to fourth drought-like season in a row
26 Jan, 2021 04:00 PM
6 minutes to read
Primary industry workers and councils are scrambling to adapt as the region braces for its fourth dry season in a row. Some farmers are trucking in water to keep crops growing, while an orchardist says he had to turn on irrigation systems as early as September as his kiwifruit vines were showing signs of the impact of seasonal drought conditions.
Pāpāmoa orchardist Rob Thode said dry conditions were becoming the norm. Photo / George Novak
And a meteorologist warns that weather events like this will only become more common and more extreme in coming decades.
Talleys, Ernest Adams and Yoplait are among hundreds of manufacturers and brands dumping contaminants into New Zealand s drains and getting away with it.
Frank van Betuw watches as blood red water and globs of yellow animal fat gush from Dunedin s sewers into the Green Island wastewater treatment plant. The visceral, greasy liquid will clog the filters and coat the ultraviolet lights used to disinfect the effluent. They ll have to be scrubbed clean, yet again.
Van Betuw knows where the wastewater comes from and he knows the company that dumped it down the drain isn t allowed to do it, but the Dunedin City Council senior compliance officer also fears it will happen again and again.
Bay of Plenty scrambles to adapt to fourth drought-like season
25 Jan, 2021 05:00 PM
6 minutes to read
Water restrictions could be considered for Rotorua if lingering drought conditions continue. The region is facing its fourth dry season in a row, with a local farmer saying he was not sure whether it was global warming at play or just a blip in the weather pattern.
But a meteorologist says weather events like this will only become more common and more extreme in the coming decades.
Bay of Plenty Regional Council has put a new water management system in place as water levels in streams across the region rapidly drop.
Companies dumping contaminants down the drain: Talleys, Ernest Adams and Yoplait identified
24 Jan, 2021 07:56 PM
17 minutes to read
Hundreds of companies have dumped contaminants into sewers in breach of their trade waste consents over the past year. File photo / Duncan Brown
RNZ
By Anusha Bradley of RNZ
Talleys, Ernest Adams and Yoplait are among hundreds of manufacturers and brands dumping contaminants into New Zealand s drains and getting away with it.
Frank van Betuw watches as blood-red water and globs of yellow animal fat gush from Dunedin s sewers into the Green Island wastewater treatment plant. The visceral, greasy liquid will clog the filters and coat the ultraviolet lights used to disinfect the effluent. They ll have to be scrubbed clean, yet again.
Talleys, Ernest Adams and Yoplait are among hundreds of manufacturers and brands dumping contaminants into New Zealand's drains and getting away with it.