Hawkes Bay Today
  • Hawke's Bay Today home
  • Latest news
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Video
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Residential property listings
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology

Locations

  • Napier
  • Hastings
  • Havelock North
  • Central Hawke's Bay
  • Tararua

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

Weather

  • Napier
  • Hastings
  • Dannevirke
  • Gisborne

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Hawkes Bay Today

Pools of sewage pollute school field

By MORGAN TAIT
Hawkes Bay Today·
19 Sep, 2012 02:01 AM4 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

Pools of sewage wastewater on a Hawke's Bay school playing field is "Third World" and unhealthy, parents say.

But Bryony Lovatt, acting principal of Eskdale School in Napier, said the issue had been well-managed and no children were getting sick.

The Hawke's Bay District Health Board, Hawke's Bay Regional Council and Ministry of Education were all aware of the situation, that has been present since winter 2011, and were happy with the way the Year 1-8 school was handling it.

A parent, who wished to remain anonymous, contacted Hawke's Bay Today yesterday after walking into a "sinking bog" on an otherwise dry field at the school's cross country day last week.

"The children are playing in their own faeces like a Third World country," the parent said.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"We send our kids to school believing that the teachers and trustees have our kids best interests at heart but I do not believe for a moment that any ethical person could justify letting this happen. Yet here we are."

The area was roped off yesterday afternoon, but before this only red flag markings were present, including on school cross country day when children ran a course through the flagged area.

"On questioning my children, they know nothing about the sewer water, just that they have been told not to play around the flags due to the mud," the parent said.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"They said they still play in it where the teachers can't see them from the staffroom and gave a recent story about a 5-year-old that was playing in the 'mud' and the teachers had to shower him off."

Mrs Lovatt countered that there were no records of children getting sick, agencies had assured the school it was safe and she did not know of other parents who had raised issues.

"We have no knowledge of any children becoming sick due to children playing on the field," she said.

"We have taken precautions, we have now been instructed to keep the area roped off.

"We have worked very carefully with the council and had water tests done. I am quite confident that it is fine."

When asked if she would be okay with her own children playing on the field she said: "Yes I would, and I walk across it myself."

Hawke's Bay Regional Council compliance and harbours manager Bryce Lawrence said the problem arose not from the system, but the field itself.

Hundreds of metres of underground drip lines released controlled amounts of effluent into the ground at regular intervals, treating waste as it absorbed into the soil.

"There's no reason to believe there's anything wrong with the system, it's the disposal field," Mr Lawrence said.

A clay tablet, that was not known about at the time consents were granted by council, stopped this process and sent the waste to the surface.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"It appears that the disposal field was put on a site that when it was approved it wasn't identified there was a clay pan underneath, which means the wastewater can't be treated adequately because it is rising to the surface," he said.

The wastewater was not safe, he said.

"It is treated to a better quality than a septic tank but that doesn't mean it's safe," Mr Lawrence said.

A Hawke's Bay District Health Board spokeswoman said the board's Public Health service was aware of the issue and was working with the council, the school and the Ministry of Education.

"Public Health supports the regional council's advice to effectively cordon off the whole top field until a more effective solution is found," the spokeswoman said.

Mrs Lovatt said a new section in front of the school was awaiting resource consents to become the new disposal land.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"The ministry has bought a new section for us and that has been developed and we are waiting for consent to approve the wastewater being disposed around the edges of the new field."

Ministry of Education policy manager Jerome Sheppard confirmed the plan, and said: "There had to date been no breach of health or school regulations".

Save

    Share this article

Latest from Hawkes Bay Today

Hawkes Bay Today

Motorist dies after four crashes in 40 minutes in Hawke's Bay

Hawkes Bay Today

'We have you surrounded': Police stood down after Hawke's Bay stand-off, search continues

Premium
Hawkes Bay Today

Black Ferns: Tui pair on the big bird for matches in South Africa


Sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Hawkes Bay Today

Motorist dies after four crashes in 40 minutes in Hawke's Bay
Hawkes Bay Today

Motorist dies after four crashes in 40 minutes in Hawke's Bay

Some roads remained blocked.

17 Jul 06:02 AM
'We have you surrounded': Police stood down after Hawke's Bay stand-off, search continues
Hawkes Bay Today

'We have you surrounded': Police stood down after Hawke's Bay stand-off, search continues

17 Jul 04:06 AM
Premium
Premium
Black Ferns: Tui pair on the big bird for matches in South Africa
Hawkes Bay Today

Black Ferns: Tui pair on the big bird for matches in South Africa

17 Jul 04:00 AM


Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky
Sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

06 Jul 09:47 PM
NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • Hawke's Bay Today e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Hawke's Bay Today
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • NZME Events
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP