Removing sewage before it goes septic is main focus of Wellington water company

Wellington Water is working against the clock to get raw sewage out of its Moa Point Treatment Plant before it goes septic.

Early Wednesday morning the plant was flooded by raw sewage – causing it to shut down and be evacuated.

Some of that waste had been taken to landfill – while the rest of it was now being pumped out of the facility.

The water company’s board chair Nick Leggett said they’re working hard to get the material out of the plant prior to it becoming septic.

“That has been a focus from pretty much the moment that we knew there was something wrong.

“It was getting this place clean so it is a safe place to work and so it is not emitting obviously a stench.”

Sewage can be seen on Wellington’s South Coast after a leak from the Moa Point wastewater plant.
Photo: Kate Taptiklis

That sewage was being pumped from the plant’s 1.8 kilometre long outfall pipe to reduce harm to beaches.

Wellington Water believed some issue with that pipe had caused the major failure of the plant.

Leggett said divers had been inspecting it but were yet to find any form of blockage.

On Friday it was reported Wellington Mayor Andrew Little would be raising the Moa Point treatment plant failure with Prime Minister Christopher Luxon on Monday.

The meeting was scheduled already but Little said it would be a topic of discussion.

Little said one of the questions in the days ahead would be about setting up an appropriate investigation or inquiry into what happened.

“We can’t let this happen again,” he said. “We can’t let such a critical plant for a modern city fail in the way that this has and cause the environmental degradation that it has.

“It’s important we get the facts and it’s important we understand what we need to do to prevent it from happening again.”

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