An effort to clean and realign the Vairoa stream in Ruatonga valley as well as reclaim neighbouring land eroded by torrential floods is well underway.

Spearheaded by Deputy Prime Minister Albert Nicholas, the Member of Parliament for RAPPA (Ruatonga-Avatiu-Palmerston-Panama-Atupa), the work is deemed a massive undertaking since soil and debris has filled the stream.

Over the years, the stream had become clogged with debris and a large fallen chestnut tree reduced the stream’s capacity to handle heavy rain causing water to divert and create new channels flooding and gouging out land.

This led to frequent flooding in particular areas, with water just about reaching Vairoa Rd, cutting off access for residents.

Nicholas said: “We recognised the need to restore the stream to its original state allowing water its pathway to sea.”

“In heavy rain all this debris and soil finds its way down to the Avatiu bridge and clogs it.

“I would rather we do this project now before the rainy season starts – you know it’s better to be proactive rather than reactive.

“We have to try and stay on top of it.”

Nicholas, who is also the Minister for Infrastructure, believes this stream has the biggest problem and has caused massive damages compared to others on the island.

Working with his community and government agencies for about two months now, Nicholas is overseeing a comprehensive clean-up which has involved deepening the stream to its original state, cleaning the stream which exposed gabions from around 30 years ago, and trimming back vegetation.

“I don’t want to wait for the problem to happen,” he said.

Initially, the project was phase 2 of the Avatiu Stream embankment stabilisation works using a gabion retaining wall which was costing millions. The stream is the largest watercourse on Rarotonga.

With a lack of funding, Nicholas took on the work to restore the stream with a permit from the Tu’anga Taporoporo (National Environment Service).

So far, the costs have added up to about $7000 for fuel and a machine operator.

Damage caused by floods has gouged out land. The original stream is on the right. MELINA ETCHES/24081503

Another issue he noted was people killing the tame tuna eels in the stream, even the big old mama eel.

A sign has been put up to try and protect the eels that people feed.

“If people are hungry, there’s a lot of wild chickens around they can eat,” he said.

Nicholas adds that he is “fortunate” to have managed to get some support from the Cook Islands Investment Corporation and friends working on weekends, and Sam Pati Heather.

“I want to thank the people in this area too for cooking food for the workers,” he said.

“Hopefully this big project will sort out flooding issues in the future so people don’t have to suffer through floods.

“When the big rains come, we will see.”

Nicholas added that the stream would need to be maintained and that every four to five years there would be a need to get down and clean it out.