Liz March 10th, 2017
As of today, Aucklanders have been asked reduce water-use by 20 litres per day. The extreme storm event this week reduced Watercare Services’ ability to process drinking water from the Hunuas and they need to wait for the dam to settle and the water to clarify over a few weeks before processing water at full capacity.
How do you know how much you normally use? Take a look on your Watercare bill – on the back it shows how much water you use each day. For instance – our 2-person household uses about 200 litres – well within the band of a ‘normal’ one person household.
How do you make water savings? A bucket of water is about 10 litres, so how can we save 2 buckets per day? Here are some hints: Water savings and Smarter Homes .
Let’s help ourselves by reducing our water bills, and help Auckland to “save the planet” at the same time.
Like this:
Like Loading...
Liz February 26th, 2017
Tuna – Waititiko Nov 2009
As the water table throughout the Meola catchment drops due to increased hard surfaces like concrete and buildings, the flow and depth of Waititiko (Meola Creek) reduces and wildlife is threatened.
Good news: STEPS and AC people were thrilled to see a sizable tuna (eel) on 22 February at the corner by SLG Apartments and St Lukes Megacentre. This eel was following a rat who may have been attracted by bread often dropped at both Kerr-Taylor bridge and this corner of Roy Clements Treeway.
Sadly this week on Monday 20th Feb we found a dead 80 cm eel under the bridge in the Kerr Taylor reserve – see the picture below. This was reported to AC Pollution Control (incident I2017-945) and was removed. Today there are 2 dead ducks in the same location which we have also reported. Others reported more ducks in February, and our information is that this has been an especially bad problem this year across the Auckland isthmus.
Tuna are sensitive to low dissolved oxygen levels and ducks can succumb to botulism. It is also known that enrichment of streams with phosphorous from farm pasture runoff causes fish death (see Phosphorous in water). The latest water measurements done by STEPS showed very low dissolved oxygen and high levels of phosphorus in the creek. Eels and fish need oxygen in the water, and reported sightings of eels in Meola creek have reduced in recent years.
Actions we can take include:
- Streamside planting shades the water and makes it cooler and better for wildlife. You can help STEPS plant and maintain our wetland and creek banks by contacting us on this site
- Don’t feed bread to ducks – you may be feeding rats or helping botulism disease to spread among the ducks (see Ducks & botulism in Auckland and Duck feed)
- Immediately report sick or dead wildlife in streams to Auckland Council 09 377 3107
- Use water sensitive design practices and materials around your house, instead of concreting which increases flooding and reduces the area through which water can filter through to the underground Meola aquifer
- Please reply or leave a comment to this post with your thoughts
Dead eel February 2017
Like this:
Like Loading...
Liz January 25th, 2017
Meola Creek has a new good neighbour. A local resident has improved his yard and helped our creek and harbour by using ‘gobi blocks’ instead of concrete as a pad for his car. This is rare at a time when concrete trucks abound as gardens are covered over.
Upper Meola Creek has dozens of overflows each year causing sewage and toxins from roads and roofs to spill on to land, and into Waitemata harbour. At the same time the base flow is lowering because the water is all being channelled to the sea, instead of naturally filtering and recharging the aquifer.
Homeowners, schools and developers can easily reduce this through “low impact design”. We can all use gobi blocks, rain gardens, wetlands, and roof gardens to retain the water on land for longer and allow it to refill our creeks and rivers. Guidelines are available from Auckland Council or Landcare e.g. Water sensitive design
We have the information and the technology to reduce the concrete covering our back yards and driveways.
We look forward to Auckland Council and CCOs showing the way with permeable road and foot path surfaces, to reduce the detritus from roads which currently flows into our creeks and harbours.
Permeable car pad near Meola Creek,
Like this:
Like Loading...
