Akaroa businesses flooded with sewage after wastewater system overflows

Flooding on Leadleys Rd in Canterbury. Photo / Nathan Mckinnon

By RNZ

• Akaroa businesses pumped sewage from shopfronts after stormwater caused a wastewater overflow.
• Residents were asked to reduce demand after a main blew on Beach Rd.
• George Waghorn praised the council’s efforts but noted more work is needed on the stormwater system.

A handful of Akaroa businesses have been pumping sewage out of their shopfronts and back gardens, after a surge in stormwater caused a wastewater system to overflow.

Banks Peninsula reopened on Saturday afternoon, after intense rainfall flooded State Highway 75.

Akaroa residents were asked to reduce demand on the wastewater system, after a main blew on Beach Rd.

Akaroa Dolphins owner-operator George Waghorn told RNZ the heavy rain – more than 300mm in the past week – had caused the stormwater system to overflow into the wastewater system.

The sewerage system under his house burst under the pressure, which caused sewage to flood down into Harcourts, the Akaroa Dolphins shopfront and the hairdresser’s.

Waghorn said his house was untouched, but the businesses below and his back lawn were flooded.

Despite pumping wastewater out on to the street and cleaning toilet paper and human faeces off his lawn for most of the day, Waghorn remained cheerful.

“Ah, it’s all good,” he said. “Today’s a sunny day, the lawns are dried out and we’re all cleaned up. Just trying to sort out insurance and getting the shop and the business up and running again.

“Good that the road’s open – we’ll see some tourists tomorrow.”

He said he had been speaking to the local councillor about what could be done to prevent it happening again.

“[The council has] done a good job sorting out some parts of town, but still a fair bit of work to do to get that stormwater out of the Akaroa sewage supply.”