Clean-up of the Mapua contaminated site
Boundary of Mapua site.
A public waterfront park and flourishing grass now covers seaside land at Mapua, near Nelson, which was previously New Zealand’s worst contaminated site – a legacy of decades of pesticide pollution by its former owners, the Fruitgrowers Chemical Company (FCC).
The Ministry for the Environment helped fund an investigation of the site – now owned by Tasman District Council– and the majority of the $12 million clean-up project.
The Ministry has published a history of the Fruitgrowers’ Chemical Company to make good on a promise to the community to tell their story and that of the site clean-up, so they are not forgotten. Copies of the booklet, Cleaning up Mapua – the history of the Fruitgrowers’ Chemical Company site, have been distributed to the key people involved in the story and local resident associations, historians, libraries, museums and schools.
The challenges
The clean-up posed significant challenges, including the sheer amount of contamination, and the site’s location sandwiched between a residential area and a sensitive marine ecosystem.
Though the clean-up has turned a highly toxic site into a real asset for the Mapua community, the Ministry has been criticised for aspects of its handling of the project.
Because of its severity, the legacy of FCC’s pollution will always be present to some degree, and the site will require ongoing management and monitoring. But New Zealand’s worst contaminated site is now unrecognisable from the toxic eyesore it was seven years ago.
After clean-up
During clean-up
After clean-up – waterfront park
Reports on the Mapua Clean-up Project
- Limited soil sampling and dioxin analysis
- Assessment of Public Health Risk from the Remediation of the former Fruitgrowers Chemical Company site, Mapua, Nelson (Ministry of Health's website)
- Chris Bell's Report: A review of the Ministry’s handling of the project
- Audit of the Remediation of the former Fruitgrowers Chemical Company Site, Mapua
- Mapua clean-up Site Validation Report
Background to the project
1932: Fruitgrowers Chemical Company (FCC) opened a pesticide formulation factory at Mapua
1945: The manufacture of organochlorine pesticides began, and in
1958: Organophosphorus pesticide formulation was introduced.
1988: FCC operations closed down. By this time more than a hundred chemicals had been used and formulated on site.
mid-1990s: Site investigations were conducted, leading to the development of a resource consent application for a containment strategy.
1997: a resource consent hearing granted a consent for containment of the site. This was appealed by Royal Forest and Bird Protection Society in part on the grounds that containment was not the preferred response. The government also expressed its view that the preferred strategy was remediation, not containment.
1999: Government agreed to assist Tasman District Council with funding, research and advice, delivered in part by the Ministry for the Environment.
2001: Tasman District Council awarded the contract to Thiess, using the remediation technology of Environmental Decontamination Ltd.
2003: Further site characterisation and investigations was conducted by Thiess, leading to a resource consent application in 2003 for remedial works.
Greenpeace and the Royal Forest and Bird Protection Society appealed the conditions, and the consent was granted with amendments in November 2003.
2004: In August, Thiess Services withdrew from the project and the Ministry became the consent holder, assuming responsibility for the project.
2007: The last batch of contaminated soil was treated in July. In November, the resource consents expired and the responsibility for the site was returned to the landowners, Tasman District Council.
2009: Final site auditor’s report for remediation of Mapua site published.
2011: Phase 2 of Mapua Waterfront Park – including seating, boardwalks, planting and amphitheatre – completed in October. At the same time, Cleaning Up Mapua – The History of the Fruitgrowers’ Chemical Company Site was published by the Ministry.
Last updated: 7 November 2011
