Councils spend millions on Tauranga wastewater clean ups but cartoon elephant helps

A cartoon elephant trying to fit down a toilet is part of a Save our Pipes from Wipes Tauranga City Council campaign. Image / Tauranga City Council

The comedic image of an elephant trying to fit down a toilet is believed to have helped reduce the number of wastewater blockages and spills in Tauranga.

Data obtained by the Bay of Plenty Times through a Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act reveals about $1 million a year has been spent cleaning up and fixing wastewater spills in Tauranga.

During the past three years, there have been 41 overflows into local waterways. Another 100 to 150 a year are estimated to have spilled into private property or been contained to land or the stormwater network.

Tauranga City Council democracy services manager Coral Hair said the cost from the overflows depended on the type and nature of the spills and could range from a thousand dollars to many thousands depending on the cause and follow up.

"Over the past three financial years, council has spent approximately $1m per year on its contractors maintaining, repairing and responding to issues with the wastewater network including overflows."

This money did not include staff time, wastewater education programmes such as the Save our Pipes from Wipes campaign, or growth-related projects to improve or upgrade the network.

Hair said the campaign was believed to have contributed to a five-year downward trend in overflows, with a "significant drop" between 2019 and 2020 when the campaign was first launched.

In the summer of 2020/21, the council spent $9000 on the marketing campaign featuring a cartoon image of an elephant attempting to fit into a toilet. The image was aimed at illustrating that the organisation removes about two tonnes of wet wipes from the wastewater system every week - the size of a small elephant.

The timing also tied in with the council contacting residents in affected catchments to raise awareness of the causes of overflows, increased preventative maintenance on areas of the network prone to blockages, and working collaboratively with businesses that produce trade waste to reduce their impacts on the network, she said.

Of the spills from the past three years, most were caused by fatbergs or wipes with some blockages taking 33 days to clear.

During the same timeframe, Western Bay of Plenty District Council recorded 140 wastewater spills, costing ratepayers nearly $65,000. This money also did not include staff overtime, testing or consulting costs.

Acting group manager of infrastructure services Kerrie Little said the Western Bay spills also indicated a downward trend, with 39 spills in 2018/19, 45 in 2019/20 and 36 in 2020/21.

Like Tauranga, most Western Bay spills were caused by blockages from fat or foreign objects. Many of these spills were in the Maketu area. Six of the 140 impacted stormwater drains.

Tips for leftover fat, oil and grease
• Don't pour leftover fat, oil and grease down the sink. It cools and turns hard, resulting in pipe blockages. Running hot water afterwards just moves the problem further down the network.
• Pour leftover cooled fat, oil and grease into a non-recyclable container or newspaper, then put it in the rubbish bin.
• If a blockage occurs on your property, you or your landlord will have to pay the cost for a plumber to fix the problem.