The Whau River is an integral part of the lives of everyone living in the catchment. On the 4th of May, to commemorate the importance of the river to the local Whau community, the Whau River Catchment Trust, along with the West End Rowing Club and New Lynn and Grey Lynn Sea Scouts, held an estuary clean-up event. The goal was to connect the community to the awa (river) right on their doorsteps.
Over 116 volunteers attended. Some people started at Saunders Reserve on the Rosebank side of the river, spreading out from there and scouring the banks. The West End Rowing Club kindly provided boats to take some volunteers onto the estuary itself to look for rubbish that was less accessible from land. The remaining volunteers, including those from the New Lynn and Grey Lynn Sea Scouts, set off from Archibald Park on the other side of the river. By the morning’s end, a hefty haul of rubbish had been collected, and the volunteers were filled not only with a proud sense of kaitiakitanga (guardianship/protection), but also a hearty BBQ lunch generously provided by the West End Rowing Club.
In the wake of several extreme rainfall events that have hit Auckland, cleaning our waterways of rubbish has become more important than ever. During heavy rain, rubbish and debris can get picked up and flushed downstream, getting trapped in the stream or on the bank or washing out into the harbour. This has a harmful impact on wildlife and water quality. Rubbish and debris carried by fast-flowing floodwaters also pose a serious danger to people. Not only does cleaning up the awa protect our streams and keep Auckland’s harbours clean and healthy, it also brings together businesses and people in the community and builds a stronger sense of flood resilience, creating safer, healthier streams.
