Auckland Zoo

When we wrote to the Auckland Zoo, the director invited us to come and learn about the new Envirolyte water disinfecting system they have just installed to treat waste water. Zoos use large amounts of water and at Auckland Zoo they get a lot of it from Waiateao and Waiorea.

First it flows into the lion enclosure to create the moat, then overflows into the flamingos and down into Hippo River where these enormous animals swim in it and of course leave droppings and food scraps.

This dirty water has to be cleaned before it goes back into the creek.

We visited the rotating filter where the solid waste is removed and used to make the compost you can buy, called Zoo Doo.

Then we were shown a new technology developed in Russia, which creates a non-toxic, biodegradable disinfectant that kills the disease causing germs you could find in the Hippo River.

They put sea salt in a tank with fresh water which then has an electric current passed through it. This chemical reaction makes a solution called Anolyte which smells like swimming pools but without the nasty chemicals. They told us it is safe to drink and is used to clean the waste water in the hippo enclosures before it flows back into Waiateao where the eels live.

The Zoo is making a big effort to recycle and reduce waste so our local environment is not polluted. But they can't control the pollution in the storm water that flows into Waiateao before it enters the zoo. We realised that is a council and a community problem that we can all try to fix.

Solomon spotted this orea under the stream bridge as he walked back up the hill to school clutching his bag of elephant poo. We thought it was a good sign, he tohu pai.