Pollution in the Te Aroha district caused by mining

Abstract

Whereas miners (and their supporters in the Mines Department) felt constrained by the imposition of environmental controls, many Te Aroha residents were concerned about the purity of their domestic water supply, although a vocal minority was more interested in the possibilities of jobs and money. As mullock and tailings were unavoidable consequences of mining, when farmers had fine silt deposited on their land they combined with town-dwellers to seek the removal of the designation of the Waihou River as a sludge channel. Efforts to revive mining during the depression of the 1930s revived concerns about pollution, and in the following decade the Auckland Smelting Company’s efforts to develop the Tui portion of the field provoked considerable debate about protecting Te Aroha’s water supply amongst officials and within the community. The warden, encouraged by departmental officials, permitted mining, but imposed conditions that its opponents considered to be inadequate and which the company sought to evade.