environment

Rangitoto Island

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This weekend I sailed with a friend to Rangitoto Island in the Waitemata Harbour, Auckland.   It is one of Auckland’s many extinct volcanoes, and it’s youngest, just 600 years.

The island is home to the former site of a WWII controlled mine base, basically they stored mines there, that were used to protect the entrances to the Waitemata Harbour and approaches to Auckland from the threat of invasion during WWII.

The site is heavily contaminated with asbestos left over from the roofing and building materials that they used at that time.    Efforts have been made to for a number of years to try and get the site cleaned up. A tender was raised by the Department of Conservation in March 2018 for asbestos removal works, so hopefully in the future we can look forward to the site being cleared of the hazardous material.

$30m Bioreactor a World First

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The new bioreactor facility at the Wairakei Power Station near Taupo. Photo / Jeremy Bright

The new bioreactor facility at the Wairakei Power Station near Taupo. Photo / Jeremy Bright

 

A one-of-a-kind new water treatment facility near Taupo is using gas-gobbling bacteria and 378km of underground pipes to clean Waikato River water.

While it may make a fabulous water feature, Wairakei Power Station’s new bioreactor is a serious piece of industrial plant, and a world first.

It uses sulphur-oxidising bacteria to reduce the levels of hydrogen sulphide in the power station’s cooling water.

The $30 million bioreactor was commissioned in July and formally opened yesterday at Wairakei with a blessing from Rev Sonny Garmonsway of Te Pihopatanga o Aotearoa (the Maori Anglican Church) and Ngati Tuwharetoa.

The bioreactor’s follows years of trials and a 12-month construction project.

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