West Otago farmer Al Body is giving his time, land and ingenuity to a detainment bund project in a bid to reduce stormwater contaminants entering the Pomahaka River. He talks to Otago Daily Times’ Shawn McAvinue about some of the fun moments of the project, including crawling more than 20m backward in a 60cm-wide pipe, making a release valve from chopping boards and continually learning how to build a better bund.
West Otago farmer Al Body is embracing a project trying to find a way to reduce stormwater contaminants entering the Pomahaka River.
The project was designed to find if an embankment to control the flow of stormwater across the clay soil of his hilly, more than 380ha sheep, beef and deer farm near Tapanui, can reduce contaminants reaching downstream waterways.
Funders for the three-year trial include the Ministry for Primary Industries and the Otago Regional Council.