Young eco-warrior on a mission2 min read

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Young Harper Spurway is making a name for herself as a passionate eco-warrior, dedicated to protecting the environment, starting with her own backyard – Manukau Harbour.

As headgirl of Kohia Terrace School, Harper (12) has taken a stand against global warming, even convincing her family to adopt a more sustainable lifestyle, including biking, using public transport and following a plant-based diet.

Harper’s concern for the environment led her to focus a school science project on the health of Manukau Harbour, a once-thriving haven for wading birds and a crucial source of fish for local marae.

Harper’s school enters the NIWA Science and Technology Fair every two years, but she was able to convince them to take part again this year. She won it last year, and is a finalist again, aiming to raise awareness about the harbour’s decline.

For the project, titled ‘From Glory To Gutter – our degrading Manukau’, Harper mapped the area and selected ten testing sites on the inner, mid and outer areas of the harbour. She collected numerous water samples at high and low tides, and using a fish tank saltwater testing kit, measured the temperature, pH, salinity, dissolved solids, and key pollutants like nitrates, nitrites, phosphates, and ammonia, all of which indicate levels of pollution and runoff.

The results were shocking: “I found toxic levels of nitrates and phosphates, especially near the industrial zones, and a significant drop in pH, which is harmful to aquatic life,” says Harper.

Decomposing leaves on the shoreline contribute to nitrate pollution, while industrial runoff worsened the problem. “I was shocked to find a discarded electric scooter, household rubbish, and dead rats in the water.”

“This is not what New Zealand is like. We’re better than this. We have to be clean and green.”

In some areas, Harper noticed a strong smell and was horrified to find empty chemical containers discarded under a boardwalk in Favona.

Harper compared her findings to a 2004 Auckland Council report, which had flagged similar issues.

Dad, David, who isn’t a vegetarian like Harper and mum, Jacqui, was so disturbed by her findings, that he vowed never to eat fish caught from Manukau Harbour again.