Opuha Dam - response to article Straight Furrow

Environment Canterbury is taking extremely seriously allegations that chemicals may have been buried under the Opuha Dam/ Lake Opuha* during its construction around 1994.

Environment Canterbury staff in Timaru have begun investigating the allegations by a former worker on the dam site, printed on the Straight Furrow magazine website from May 23 and in the newspaper May 24.

Environment Canterbury director investigations and monitoring Ken Taylor said the regional council was working on the issue on several fronts:

• Water samples and samples from fish/eels will be taken and analysed for any chemical residues.
• Environment Canterbury staff are interviewing people to corroborate the claims provided by the former worker.
• An independent environmental consultancy will oversee the investigation within the lake to find out if metal drums are buried in the lake-bed, using specialist geo-physical equipment.

“Environment Canterbury has shared all the information supplied to it by Straight Furrow with the Timaru and Mackenzie District Councils and Community and Public Health. We need to ascertain the truth of these claims and then ascertain what the level of risk is to the environment and to people,” said Ken Taylor.

Note: Environment Canterbury Commissioner Tom Lambie, chairman of Opuha Dam Company, is standing aside from any involvement in Environment Canterbury’s investigations.

* Lake Opuha has been full since 1998, and is a 400m-long and 50m-high earth dam, covering 750 hectares.