Environment Canterbury investigators are asking the public to come forward with any information about the sprayer, which they believe to be responsible for the March spill in the Ōpāwaho Heathcote River.
The sprayer was found on the riverbank opposite Cumnor Tce, Woolston, shortly after the March 1 incident.
“After investigating and excluding all other known and likely potential causes of the chemical spill, we now believe that this sprayer could have contained the substances that caused this event,” said ECan Resource Management Act investigator Valyn Barrett.
Barrett said the chemical traces in the sprayer were from a commercial weed spray that can be toxic to fish.
“We are asking anyone who knows who it could belong to, to get in contact with us confidentially to pass on that information,” said Barrett.
Investigators hope some of the distinctive features of the sprayer will help the public identify its origins.
The blue-and-white sprayer has blue rope tied to its top. It is also missing its spray wand and nozzle.
This is why the investigators have only been able to make their interest in the garden sprayer public now, months after the incident.
“We need to be certain before we make allegations that could affect a person or group,” said Barrett.
Ōpāwaho Heathcote River Network secretary Malcolm Long said the spill was a “terrible disaster”.
The river network is doing what it can to alert the public to the ECan request, said Long.
“Anything that threatens the ecology of the river is a concern to us.”
- Any information about the sprayer can be made confidentially to ECan on 0800 765 588 or through email at allinvestigations@ecan.govt.nz
