`We've had enough ... this is disgusting'

Fed up with years of "Third World" sewage overflows through their shops, five business owners have joined forces to urge the Whangarei District Council to urgently fix the problem.
While the council wants to tackle the problem, it says reducing the overflows in the CBD to one every 10 years could cost up to $25million. Even cutting the spills back to one every five years would cost more than $22million.
Sewage has run along Butter Factory Lane and Rathbone St twice this year - in March and earlier this month - during heavy rain that brought widespread floods.
The March overflow, which started in Butter Factory Lane, inflicted heavy financial losses on businesses along Rathbone St.
The Bakehouse bakery and cafe had to close for two months and owner Say Thuch said she lost more than $50,000. The cafe had had to be disinfected by workers contracted by her insurance company.
She said the March 29 overflow was the worst she had had to put up with in the six years she had been running the business. The sewers overflowed again on July 10 but the effects - while still gut-turning - were not as serious.
Investment adviser Dave Walk expressed disgust in a letter to the council after the March flood.
"We ask that the council follow through on remedial work with some urgency so that we do not have to experience again this shabby 'Third World' situation in a main thoroughfare," he said.
All the council had to do was to seal gaps in the sewer to prevent the overflows.
"The fact that a lot of businesses are insured is not the point. It's the inconvenience that they've had to put up with every time it rains. This is a CBD where a lot of business transactions take place and where a lot of rates are paid to the council."
He proposed the council waive the businesses' rates for the period they were affected by sewage.
DTR manager Carol Williams said business owners needed a permanent solution.
Sewage leaks in downtown Whangarei are caused by stormwater entering the pipes and manholes through defects, cracks, faulty joints and displaced pipes, a new study has found.
Stormwater also entered through "illegal" connections of downpipes and low-lying gully traps.
Consulting engineers AWT New Zealand say Whangarei's sewerage network overflows on average twice a year during heavy rain, especially at the Hatea pumping station and from a manhole in Butter Factory Lane.
A permanent solution - reducing overflows to one every ten years - would cost $25million.
While the Whangarei District Council prepares to ask ratepayers whether they would wear another rates rise to fix the problem, waste and drainage manager Gary Oldcorn said the overflows would be solved temporarily by diverting wastewater flowing toward Rathbone St into an enlarged manhole or grate.
"We'll at least prevent the wastewater from going into Rathbone St." The short-term fix would be ready in the next two months, he said.
The study noted overflows also occurred from gully traps at many private properties, and backflow preventers on sewer connections had not stopped the problem.
Overflows from the Okara Park pumping station amounted to 49,284cu m from July 10-16 this year. A permanent solution would include increased storage at Hatea, Okara, Otaika and Waverley St pump stations and pipe upgrades to reduce wet-weather overflows.
A proposal for public consultation on costs and options to tackle the problem was passed by Whangarei District Council members today. Mr Oldcorn said public consultation would begin within six months.