Source: Department of Conservation
Date: 18 March 2025
Upper Cleddau Flats landfill, known colloquially as ‘Little Tahiti,’ extends inland from the Tutoko and Cleddau Rivers.
Department of Conservation Operations Manager, Te Anau, John Lucas, says the clean-up is a legacy from an infrastructure project which took place 70 years before DOC was created.
Gravel was removed from Little Tahiti to construct Milford Road, and afterwards the site was used as a landfill, until the mid-1980s.
“DOC, Environment Southland and Ministry for the Environment have been collaborating on this site since investigations uncovered contaminants like asbestos at levels posing a potential risk to human health and the environment,” says John.
The 8200 m2 landfill also contains waste material and rubbish, along with heavy metals, building materials, hydrocarbons like petroleum, and general municipal waste.
Located 100 m off the main SH94, Little Tahiti is closed to the public and is not a visitor destination. Material is buried and contact is limited to those assessing the site.
John says high-priority remedial work is needed to address the contamination and erosion risk.
“We are seeing more frequent high intensity rainfall events in Milford, like the 2020 floods, which did significant damage across DOC’s network of tracks in the region, including the Milford Track.”
An earlier weather event in 2019 caused a landfill to breach in South Westland, spilling buried waste into the Fox River and sending it 21 kilometres downstream through Westland Tai Poutini National Park into the Tasman Sea – resulting in the need for a massive clean-up, dubbed Operation Tidy Fox.
“What happened at Fox River highlights the pressing need to address Little Tahiti as soon as possible to avoid a similar environmental incident,” says John.
Funding to clean up Little Tahiti is split, with DOC funding 50% while the rest was sourced from the Ministry for the Environment’s former Contaminated Sites Remediation Fund before it closed.
The Little Tahiti Landfill has been awarded $2,024,700 for remediation works from the Ministry.
MfE Waste Investments Manager Lara Cowan says the Ministry is pleased to be able to support the remediation of Little Tahiti and enable DOC to proactively address a site at risk of exposure in such a special place for New Zealanders. The Ministry continues to fund projects like Little Tahiti through the newly opened Contaminated Sites and Vulnerable Landfills Fund.
The remedial work at Little Tahiti will likely affect State Highway 94 with some traffic delays, and increased truck movements on the road to Milford Sound while underway. It’s expected to take two and a half months.
“Public safety is paramount while work is being carried out,” says John Lucas.
“There will be notifications as early as possible on the visitor information networks for Milford Sound and SH94 Milford Road updates.”
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