Pegasus Post: May 12, 2022

6 Thursday May 12 2022
Ranger creates legacy
Motorbike damage
‘disappointing’
CREATIVE: Rate-Smith built this seat in collaboration with a local carver and weaver for
one of the parks, and made a fairy house in his spare time for the children’s fairy forest in
Bottle Lake Forest Park.
• From page 5
When he was tasked with
replacing picnic tables at The
Groynes, Rate-Smith said he
“wasn’t impressed” with the
cost so took it upon himself to
design his own tables and get
an engineer to build and install
them. This roughly halved the
cost of ordering tables in.
It’s things like this that
make Rate-Smith get up in the
morning feeling excited to go
to work, something he feels
fortunate to experience.
While Rate-Smith loves his
job, he said there are some
aspects that he really struggles
with, particularly seeing people
damage the parks.
“We do all of this work and
there’s always an element to
society that seem to congregate
in parks that want to destroy
stuff,” he said.
“You put everything you can
into it and you do believe in what
you’re doing, and it might only
last a week before somebody’s
destroyed it.”
He said the rangers had seen
an increase in people doing
burn-outs at The Groynes,
ripping the paddocks to pieces,
and wondered if this was due to
frustrations with Covid.
This time of year tends to
be the quietest for the rangers
and they spend it planning and
planting as well as taking in new
volunteers to help out around
the parks.
Outside of work, Rate-Smith
enjoys pottering in his garage,
gardening and painting, and
is even learning how to tattoo,
using his legs as a drawing board
for his “doodles”.
One of his favourite parts of
the job is seeing changes such
as rare birds coming back to
an area or catching glimpses of
waterways improving through
the work the rangers do.
“We could well be leaving
something for people hundreds
of years from now,” he said.
“You can change things for
the better so easily; you get to do
something good everyday.”
• From page 1
Motorbike riders face a maximum
penalty of $1600 for riding
in an unauthorised area.
Burwood resident Angela Todd
the damage caused by motorbike
users is disappointing and not
what you’d expect in the area.
“The times I have seen them,
they were speeding around without
any regard for anyone else,”
Todd said.
“On one occasion they sped
down Locksley Ave at what
would have been over 50km/hr.”
The new signs have been
installed around the red zone’s
green spine, from Richmond
through to Bexley Park, with one
in South New Brighton.
Campbell said while it was
“positive” the new signs were
installed, she doubts it will stop
all motorbike users from riding
around the parks.
UNAUTHORISED: Angela
Todd regularly walks her
dog along Locksley Ave
where motorbikes have
damaged the grass.
PHOTO: ANGELA TODD
PREVENTION: Twenty no motorbike signs have been
installed around the red zone area.
PHOTO: ASHLEY CAMPBELL
Update on the Christchurch
Wastewater Treatment Plant
We’re sorry for the distress you’re experiencing because of the stench
from the fire-damaged Christchurch Wastewater Treatment Plant.
Since the fire we’ve been
dealing with two sources
of odour – the ponds and
fire-damaged structures.
We’ve worked hard to reduce
the smell from the ponds,
and this work is ongoing.
However, the other source
of odour is worse.
After the recent wet weather,
the material inside the
damaged structures started
to rot and smell. This is now
our main priority.
Here’s what we are doing:
• We have tested the air around the plant. The gases
present are at levels below those considered toxic.
However, we know the ongoing stench is affecting
people’s wellbeing.
• We are continuing to test the air and are working with
Environment Canterbury and the Medical Officer of
Health to monitor and report on the odours.
• Our contractor is about to set up onsite, so they can
remove the material from within the structures.
• The structures are huge. They hold about the same
volume as 10 Olympic swimming pools. They estimate
it could take between four to seven months to remove
everything. If they can do it faster, they will.
• There will be fortnightly progress updates to the
live-streamed Council meetings so that up-to date
information will be available to everyone.
Available support
We know the stench has been awful for those
of you living nearby. We’ve arranged for an
independent health provider to run two workshops
at the Aranui Wainoni Community Centre.
The workshops will be held on:
• Wednesday 25 May 7–8.30pm
• Wednesday 1 June 7–8.30pm
Visit ccc.govt.nz/wastewaterfire for more
information and to register for these
workshops, or call 03 941 8999
If you’re concerned about your health, we
recommend you see your GP or health provider.
If the situation is impacting on your mental health,
you can call or text 1737 at any time and talk to a
trained counsellor for free.
To keep up-to-date with the progress we’re making
at the wastewater treatment plan, sign up to our
regular e-newsletter at
ccc.govt.nz/wastewaterfire
If you have concerns about the smells, phone
Environment Canterbury on 0800 765-588 or to
report the odour on the Smelt It app, which you
can download at
smelt-it.web.app
The fire at the Christchurch Wastewater Treatment plant was a
catastrophic event and we’re very sorry that you have had to bear the
brunt of the stench it has created. Please be assured we’re committed
to removing the source of the odour as safely and quickly as possible.