Far North resident doesn't want sewage overflow to become 'normal'

Kaitaia's North Road manhole overflowing with sewage during last week's heavy rainfall. Photo/Roy Langford

Used toilet paper and smelly water appears to have become the norm on one Kaitaia street, says a resident.

Roy Langford moved to North Road from Te Hapua around two years ago.

In that time, he said he'd witnessed a local sewage manhole overflow on numerous occasions.

He explained this would happen every time there was heavy rain, which was made even worse after last week's severe rain event.

Langford said what concerned him most was the location of the manhole and how no-one else seemed perturbed by the issue.

"This drain overflows every time there is a bit of rain, and sewage ends up flowing into nearby houses," Langford said.

"The manhole is also right near the local kindergarten's carpark, yet no one seems to think that's a problem either," he claimed.

"This water also washes out to the sea via the Awanui River, where there is an oyster farm, so I'm shocked more people aren't worried."

Langford said he'd reported the matter to the Far North District Council twice.

He said he'd also spoken to his neighbours, who said it was normal and happened all the time.

Langford sent a video of the manhole overflowing to the Northland Age last week, which showed the lid bubbling uncontrollably on sewage.

He said he believed it would have had to be a decent amount of water coming out, given the lid likely weighed around 40-50 kilograms.

"I'd like to see this problem fixed for everyone's sake, because we shouldn't accept this as normal," Langford said.

"This sort of thing shouldn't be happening, and the smell of sewage is just terrible.

"We need to be promoting how we look after this place."

Andy Finch, FNDC's general manager for infrastructure and asset management, confirmed the council had received several reports of overflows from this manhole.

He advised this had occurred during heavy rain events where stormwater had infiltrated and overwhelmed parts of the wastewater system.

Finch said that while the overflow events were diluted due to the volume of rainwater entering the system, he agreed it was not acceptable.

He said a solution would require a significant redesign to upgrade wastewater reticulation in this area.

"The council has allocated a budget for this work in the Long Term Plan 2021-31, and work on this multi-year project is progressing.

"Preliminary designs for the overflows project have been completed and a business case is now being prepared.

"The first stage of the project will alter the connectivity of some of the wastewater lines to improve flow capacity in surrounding streets. This project is due to commence this financial year."

According to Finch, another project being planned was to increase the size of pipes running from Kaitaia's Donald Rd to Griggs St.

He said both these pieces of work would improve the flow around 62 North Rd.

At the same time, the council was working alongside Northland Regional Council to strengthen compliance so that illegal stormwater connections into wastewater networks could be reduced.