Work is underway to contain a suspected diesel spill on the Whanganui River.

Horizons Regional Council’s emergency management manager Ian Lowe said the spill was reported Thursday morning via the council’s pollution hotline and emergency management staff immediately went to the site in the lower reaches of the river to assess the situation.

“We can see what appears to be diesel over a large area of water between the rivermouth and boat ramp,” Lowe said.

The incident was reported by contractors at the North Mole site who suspected diesel coming past their site when they arrived this morning.

At this point the source of the spill is unknown, Lowe said.

“However, we can confirm it is not as a result of river management work underway for the Te Pūwaha port revitalisation project at the North Mole.”

He said at this stage they did not believe the spill to be linked to any boats in the port either.

 “We are mobilising equipment and more staff from Palmerston North to assist with the response. This will include a boat to assess the extent of the spill and possible source.”

Lowe said the first priority was to contain the spill and remove as much as possible from the awa.

“We will put inflatable booms out to stop the diesel from spreading out further and use absorbent pads to soak up what we can.”

He said there was an incoming tide which they would use to their advantage for containment of the spill.

“While we will do our best, it’s unlikely that we will be able to absorb all the diesel and expect any elusive patches will evaporate over time.

“People are likely to see lingering effects of the spill and Horizons will be monitoring the situation over the next few days alongside and under the leadership of hapū,” Lowe said.

“Our compliance team are also working to determine the source of the spill.”

Lowe said people in the port vicinity would see staff undertaking the work most of Thursday and local iwi have been notified of the event.

“We actually had an oil spill exercise in Foxton on Wednesday so our team are fresh on the required response for this event,” he said.

For any environmental pollution concerns, please call Horizons’ Pollution Hotline via freephone 0508 800 800.