Gardens are being dug up and buildings washed in the Wellington suburb of Newtown, after a “wet slurry” of asbestos was blown onto properties by waterblasters on a nearby roof.
According to a letter sent to residents, and provided to RNZ by Wellington City Council, the contamination occurred on 9 March during pressure washing activities on the asbestos roof at 102 Daniell Street.
Southerly winds blew the spray over “several” nearby properties, covering them with contaminated debris.
Plants and the top layer of soil have been removed from at least one property, and work is underway at others downwind of the building.
A council spokesperson told RNZ there was “minimal risk to the general public”, but it was decided there was risk to people living in the immediate vicinity, which was why the properties were being cleaned up.
Worksafe said neither the asbestos assessor or the removalist had advised that there was any airborne risk to either immediate residents, or the wider neighbourhood.
Residents were told via letter that daily air monitoring results “consistently match typical background levels, demonstrating no breaches or increases, which indicates that there is no risk of friable asbestos in the area, at any time since this remedial job has been started”.
One nearby resident, who RNZ has agreed not to name, said the first they knew of it was dirt and debris on their skylight, then they heard from a neighbour there had been three types of asbestos found on their property.
They privately hired an asbestos tester, which cost them about $1500, who swabbed the house and took soil samples, and tested the air vents inside the house.
Two types of asbestos were found outside, but inside was clear.
They understood other homes were later tested at the expense of the source building’s owner, Campbell Gower, who declined RNZ’s request for comment.
The council confirmed decontamination work had been carried out on the pavement, road, and public areas, and work had begun on decontaminating residential properties.
When RNZ visited the site on Monday, the building that was the source of the contamination remained closed.
A WorkSafe spokesperson confirmed it was “responding jointly with Wellington City Council and the property owner”, with the remediation work carried out by contractors.
“WorkSafe and WCC are in an open dialogue with the affected neighbours. Once the immediate situation is contained, WorkSafe will consider any regulatory breaches that have occurred and determine any enforcement action necessary.”
The building owner did not respond to RNZ’s request to identify the company responsible for the pressure washing; the council said it did not have that information, and Worksafe refused to say.
Worksafe and Wellington City Council met with residents on April 2.
A resident said there had been “a lot of frustration, a lot of annoyance”.
“Everything’s been all taken away, the garden’s been removed.”
The neighbours closest to the affected building had lost trees planted decades ago.
“It was just heartbreaking to see, to hear the chainsaws out there doing their thing.”
Some residents were concerned the contamination might have spread wider than initially thought, either blown in the wind or washed away by rain.
Asked if they were worried, they said: “Yes, to a certain extent. Most of us are old-ish, getting older. And so it takes 20 to 40 years, apparently, for it to manifest as mesothelioma or asbestosis.”
“So, I think for many of us, perhaps, it won’t be a problem. But there’s young families, and who knows how far it spread?”