mapua

This small settlement sits near where the main road from Nelson to Motueka meets the coast after crossing the Waimea Plains. Māpua was an important coastal port, and many shipments of apples left from its small wharf on the western entrance of the Waimea Inlet. In 1945 the Fruitgrowers Chemical Company, next to Māpua port, began producing organochlorine pesticides. Chemicals contaminated the soil, groundwater and sediments in the nearby estuary. The plant closed in 1988, and in 1999 the government helped the Tasman District Council fund its cleanup.