Wastewater still a battle for Napier City Council

A scene at Awatoto, near where major flooding and silt deposits rendered Napier's wastewater plant inoperable. Photo / Warren Buckland

Pumping of untreated Napier sewage into the sea could continue for another month or more, despite the best efforts to get the city’s Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP) back into operation as soon as possible.

The Awatoto plant has been inoperable for more than a month since being inundated by floodwaters and silt caused by Cyclone Gabrielle.

The plant suffered extensive damage, and Napier Mayor Kirsten Wise says the repair programme is complex, but it remains a top priority for the council.

“The implications of having an inoperable wastewater treatment plant for local industry, mana whenua and households are significant. Recommissioning the plant is an utmost priority for Council,” she said. “We are re-setting priorities across the board to ensure this essential operation for our city is recommissioned in a safe and timely way.”

The council’s acting executive director for infrastructure, Russell Bond, says the clean-up and repair programme is significant and, in some parts, worse than first thought.

“Progress has been challenged at times due to the detection of contaminated floodwaters and soil in the area,” he said. “Now that we have access, we are working hard to remove the huge volumes of floodwater and silt with excavators and sucker trucks.”

“Simultaneously, we have mechanical engineers repairing and replacing equipment, electrical engineers testing and rewiring, process engineers ensuring the system will run and control engineers writing and testing software.”

He says the first priority is to recommission the milliscreens, which will allow a basic level of filtering of wastewater before it enters the outfall pipe.

“All going well, we should see this operational within a month,” he said.

Stage two of the project will involve reinstating the Biological Trickling Filter (BTF) plant, which means the council will be able to treat the wastewater before it goes out to sea.

The council’s acting manager of water strategy Philip Kelsen says households should still conserve water until the WWTP is back in action.

“Any household tasks which feed water into the wastewater system such as washing dishes or having a shower are where we are asking people to be mindful of their usage,” he says.

Residents are also reminded to avoid flushing baby wipes and sanitary products down the toilet, and Kelsen says: “We currently have no screening system, so anything flushed down the loo is ending up in the ocean.”