A truck carrying a dye product has spilled purple dye along Newton Street, Mt Maunganui.

The product is a purple liquid that turns bright blue on contact with water.

The dye spilled on to the roadway in Newton Street, around 4pm yesterday afternoon.

The Bay of Plenty Regional Council and Tauranga City Council’s Pollution Prevention team were alerted and arrived onsite shortly after, says a statement from Tauranga City Council.

"The dye is not toxic, but when wet it will turn a bright blue. Cars that drive over it may have some residue on their tyres, and if that residue gets wet, it will change colour. 

"The dye has also been observed along parts of Hewletts Road.

People who drove through Newton Street last night or this morning should rinse their tyres on grass if possible, rather than concrete, to avoid the dye going into the stormwater system.

"If any of the dye does happen to get into the stormwater system, there may be some blue discolouration.

"Newton Street remains open, with traffic management in place until the dye is cleaned up. We’re expecting that to be the end of today."

Council says Fulton Hogan and Downers are managing the clean-up on behalf of the company involved and working closely with both Tauranga City and Bay of Plenty Regional Council.

”We are still looking for a better way to clean the dye up, and avoid making the stain even bigger,” says the spokesperson who spoke to a reporter at the scene.

Despite the presence of official vehicles in the area and part of the stain being isolated from traffic with orange cones, the traffic on Newton Street runs normally both ways.