Weiti Boating Club’s small yard is a hive of activity

By Emelie Fitness (October 18, 2018)

The decision to install a filtration system in Weiti Boating Club’s boatyard to combat leaking waste into the Weiti River has received Auckland Council’s praise and recognition.

Weiti Boating Club, with only 295 members, is preventing toxins in their boatyard from leaking into the river by introducing a drainage system costing over $200,000 early this year.

The drainage system ensures that toxin-filled waste is passed through many different types of filtration and treated with chlorine, lime and polymer before entering the river, with the finished product being approximately 97% chemical free.

Though the decision was driven by the Council asking for something to be done about the runoff from the yard, they now want to use the small boat club as a test case for other clubs and marinas around Auckland.

Weiti Boating Club’s manager, Katie Clark, was pleased with the idea of being used as an example.

“It’s really exciting because we are sort of like a guinea pig for other clubs because what we’ve done no one has done before and trying to find something that didn’t cost too much money as well.”

The response has been mostly positive, according to Katie, especially with the younger, newer members and those who need to wet-sand in the yard, as before they had to lay ‘booms’ down to collect the debris and then suck it up with a vacuum.

Now, members can wet-sand or waterblast anywhere and just let the system treat the resulting pollutants.

A longtime member and neighbour to the club, Janice Haferkamp, voices her admiration of the new system.

“I’ve seen over the years, some of the discolouration when people have cleaned their boats down there… I’m definitely supportive that they finally are trying to look after our environment a bit more.”

 

 

 

According to Katie, the idea was met with some resistance by some of the longtime members due to the costs involved and the difficulties in being a front-runner and doing something about toxins when other clubs have not installed anything to counter waste.

Though some boating marinas have taken action against pollution from wet-sanding, like the Whangamata Marina that was designed by the same company, IWS, and the Half Moon Bay Marina (see page 5) with specified areas allocated to wet-sanding, there is a push for other marinas and boating clubs to follow suit.

The chairman of Keep Okura Green, Peter Townend, stresses the importance of maintaining the environment.

“If you want to leave this planet better than we found it, we better start doing something different. Because at the moment my generation helped to wreck it, and it’s time we start to turn that round and each of these actions helps to turn that around.”

However, by forcing boat clubs to act upon their toxins for the overall benefit of Auckland, the problem arises as to who should pay for that technology.

When asked on a Facebook poll if boating clubs should have to install filtration systems to counter waste, 100% of commenters believed that clubs should be forced to install drainage systems, 27% believed the government should subsidise the cost, 33% thought that boat clubs should pay for the system and 47% felt that it should be government funded.

Peter takes a different stance, saying that instead of forcing boat clubs to install systems by law, the effort should go instead into education about the environment.

“I think that we are much better off leading change by education rather than by law… we’re much better off having a conscience and being compelled through doing the right thing than being forced.”