Oyster farmers call for sewerage review by Commissioners

NEW ZEALAND - Bay of Islands oyster farmers closed by pollution are calling for an independent review of sewerage systems in the Far North.

The farmers believe a faulty sewerage plant was the source of a virus that has contaminated their oysters and they blame the Far North District Council.

Bill Guest from Northland Federated Farmers says there have already been two sewage spills in the Bay of Islands this year.

He says the oyster farmers will ask the Northland Regional Council today to back their call for the Ministers for the Environment and Local Government to appoint Commissioners to review every sewerage system controlled by the Far North District Council.

The farmers say repeated spills over the last 16 years, have destroyed 30% of New Zealand's oyster industry.

An estimated 3,000 litres of raw sewage flowed over farmland near the Waitangi River, when a council pipeline failed on Saturday morning, April 8. The Far North District Council said a breakdown in the monitoring of telemetry warning system meant it went undetected for two days. It was the second such failure this year.

Source: Radio New Zealand