Nigel Clarke, senior advisor to the Porirua City Council
This week’s speaker was Nigel Clarke, senior advisor to the Porirua City Council on harbour and catchment.
Porirua is defined by its spectacular two-armed harbour, but keeping it healthy has become a serious challenge. It is surrounded by roading and housing, and there are fifteen catchments feeding into it, some of them rising in neighbouring jurisdictions.
Long ago, and before the 1855 earthquake, ships could sail into the Pauatahanui arm to discharge at Ration Point. The harbour is shallow now, averaging one metre in depth, and vulnerable to silting.
The health of the harbour has been in decline for some time, with a 50% loss of birds and 80% of seagrass from the 1978 benchmark. Pollutants such as heavy metals, chemicals and plastics flow into the waterways when wastewater overflows occur.
Reversing these problems will take a long time- perhaps 40 years.
Nigel talked us through the bureaucratic maze which he has to navigate: reports, committees, monitoring and collaboration with numerous other agencies, leading to strategies and action plans.
In the end, the tools available to the Council are limited. Engineering works are in hand to contain wastewater, trees can be planted and by-laws tightened up. Major developments like Transmission Gully, and the work of building contractors can be monitored. But the underlying issue is that much pollution is caused by the actions of thousands of householders around the city, and their lifestyles are not easily changed.
Nigel stressed the importance of education and awareness, and community action such as the protection of Taupo Swamp, in which the club is involved already.
Editor's note: Nigel has been kind enough to share his presentation for those who would like to go through it again more slowly.
⚠️ DOGS DIE IN HOT CARS. If you love them, don't leave them. ⚠️
It's a message we share time and time again, and this year, we're calling on you to help us spread that message further.
Did you know that calls to SPCA about dogs left inside hot cars made up a whopping 11% of all welfare calls last summer? This is a completely preventable issue, and one which is causing hundreds of dogs (often loved pets) to suffer.
Here are some quick facts to share with the dog owners in your life:
👉 The temperature inside a car can heat to over 50°C in less than 15 minutes.
👉 Parking in the shade and cracking windows does little to help on a warm day. Dogs rely on panting to keep cool, which they can't do in a hot car.
👉 This puts dogs at a high risk of heatstroke - a serious condition for dogs, with a mortality rate between 39%-50%.
👉 It is an offence under the Animal Welfare Act to leave a dog in a hot vehicle if they are showing signs of heat stress. You can be fined, and prosecuted.
SPCA has created downloadable resources to help you spread the message even further. Posters, a flyer, and a social media tile can be downloaded from our website here: www.spca.nz...
We encourage you to use these - and ask your local businesses to display the posters if they can. Flyers can be kept in your car and handed out as needed.
This is a community problem, and one we cannot solve alone. Help us to prevent more tragedies this summer by sharing this post.
On behalf of the animals - thank you ❤️
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