Cook Islands environmental campaigner, Andy Kirkwood, said Rarotonga is facing what he calls a 'sludge crisis.'
Truck moving sludge from Rarotonga water treatment site to dump at Papua Photo: Credit: Justine Flanagan, Te Vai Ora Maori.
The island's new water reticulation system, Te Mato Vai, was officially launched last week by Prime Minister Mark Brown.
But Mr Kirkwood said the government is facing a dilemma about what to do with the sludge that accummulates at the water intakes high in the hills of Rarotonga.
"That comes with the need to manage how the system is going to operate given the 100 year life ccycle. So we are talking 120 shipping container loads of the sludge every year for the next 100 years. It's not a problem that's going to become less, it's going to always be more, and that should have been considered before making the decision to begin operation," he said
But Peter Free, who is project manager with Te Mato Vai, which built the $US65 million water system, dismissed the sludge crisis claim.
He said they are managing the sludge and transferring from the one site where they do have a problem, but it's all manageable.
And he defended the time the company has taken to apply for an Environmental Impact Assessment needed for the disposal of the sludge.
Photo: Phillipa Webb / Cook Islands News
"We have been doing this trial on all the ponds for the last six months, trying to work out the consistency of the sludge and volumes, and how well it dries out. And we needed all that information to be able to put a full EIA in place, and in front of the appropriate authorities," Free said.
Meanwhile he said residents are reporting they are saving money on water filters with the new system in place.