Whanganui Chronicle
  • Whanganui Chronicle home
  • Latest news
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • 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

  • Taranaki
  • National Park
  • Whakapapa
  • Ohakune
  • Raetihi
  • Taihape
  • Marton
  • Feilding
  • Palmerston North

Media

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

Weather

  • New Plymouth
  • Whanganui
  • Palmertson North
  • Levin

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 / Whanganui Chronicle

Sea discharge health risk: Main

By staff reporter
Whanganui Chronicle·
2 Jan, 2013 05:30 PM2 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

Discharging untreated wastewater into the sea is "not an option" for the Wanganui District Council, says Mayor Annette Main.

She was responding yesterday to comments made by retired engineer Colin Hovey in the Wanganui Chronicle on Tuesday.

Since December, Wanganui's wastewater treatment plant has been overloaded with trade waste - protein and hydrogen sulphide - that has left a stench hanging over parts of the city.

Mr Hovey, who helped design the beleaguered wastewater treatment plant, said excess waste should be put straight out to sea while issues with the overloaded plant were being rectified.

But Ms Main said disposing of untreated waste to the sea would potentially cause further problems.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"While the smell some residents are enduring is unacceptable, I'm sure most people would rather that than risk public and environmental health," she said.

Mr Hovey noted the council once disposed of wastewater to the river and sea. "We did it for 20 years," he said.

Ms Main said: "Just because that's what happened in the past, it is not a good enough reason for us to risk public health now".

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

She pointed to the $120 million spent on cleaning up the river and, by association, the ocean through the council's wastewater scheme.

"I've seen the effects on the treatment plant ponds of huge quantities of protein and sulphides being discharged in the system in the last few weeks.

"It is disgusting and I dread to think what the effects on people and the environment might be if that material was discharged directly into the sea."

The council's infrastructure manager, Mark Hughes, said the treatment of wastewater at the plant would be boosted from today by the arrival of additional personnel, equipment and treatment materials from Hastings.

"We are also undertaking, by boat, another sludge survey this week to check on the depth, density and composition of the sludge across both ponds," he said.

Save

    Share this article

Latest from Whanganui Chronicle

Whanganui Chronicle

Whanganui-based AI service features on world stage

Whanganui Chronicle

‘All options on the table’: Whanganui gears up for crucial call on water services

Whanganui Chronicle

Family seeks answers over woman's death on Mt Ruapehu


Sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Whanganui Chronicle

Whanganui-based AI service features on world stage
Whanganui Chronicle

Whanganui-based AI service features on world stage

The presentation was met with overwhelming praise from fellow delegates.

14 Jul 01:25 AM
‘All options on the table’: Whanganui gears up for crucial call on water services
Whanganui Chronicle

‘All options on the table’: Whanganui gears up for crucial call on water services

13 Jul 09:38 PM
Family seeks answers over woman's death on Mt Ruapehu
Whanganui Chronicle

Family seeks answers over woman's death on Mt Ruapehu

13 Jul 09:12 PM


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
  • Whanganui Chronicle e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Whanganui Chronicle
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • 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