Beaches out for weeks: Napier raw sewage pumped out to sea

Napier City Council’s wastewater stations are pumping raw sewage straight out to sea.

Executive director of City Services, Lance Titter, said the sewer network was operating as it was designed to do in an emergency state, which is to pump out to sea to prevent raw sewerage coming up from manholes into city streets.

The sewerage will be pumped to sea for some days or weeks, he said.

“Exact timeframes are not certain at this stage, but we are likely to get partial treatment of raw sewage under way in the coming days,” he said.

In the meantime, people should avoid the beach and seawater along Napier’s coast. Don’t eat kaimoana and stay out of the water and away from the beach. Mana whenua have put a rāhui in place.

Executive director of infrastructure Russell Bond said testing in the cordoned-off area at Awatoto is under way to determine if any chemical contaminants are present in the waste.

“We can confirm there are no gas leaks. Any odours are natural biological processes of material being broken down. That said, we need a fuller understanding of the risks before removing the cordon from around the area,” Bond said.

“Keeping the cordon in place also allows our workers safe and easy access to ascertain what needs to be done to get the treatment plant fully operational again.”

“We hope to have a better picture of the situation in the coming days after the lab results come back.”

It’s important that residents continue to keep water usage to a minimum as the council works to keep the wastewater systems operating during this time.