Kaiapoi sewerage damage could take a year to fix

Shelley Tapp chatting to Paul Holmes in front of the buckled foot bridge over the Kaiapoi River after the earthquake. Photo / Pam Johnson

Sewage will continue flowing into the Kaiapoi River for at least another month and it could take a year to rebuild all the quake-damaged sewerage systems in the area, the Waimakariri District Council says.

The September 4 quake hit the township of Kaiapoi hard, causing severe damage to sewerage, houses and roads.

The pump station on the southern side of the river was functioning well until a couple of days ago but a significant break had been detected since then, council chief executive Jim Palmer said.

The flow through the pipeline was now at 15 litres a second, down from around 70 litres a second.

"It will be some weeks before we can fix the break under the river and so we're going to need to continue discharging sewage into the Kaiapoi River at Raven Quay near Bowler St," Mr Palmer said.

The council estimated that it would take another month to fix the pipeline at Pines Beach and Kairaki and the treatment ponds as well.

"In the meantime, we're needing to continue discharging effluent into the lower Waimakariri River," Mr Palmer said.

About 95 per cent of Kaiapoi has a functioning sewer system but about 150 Kaiapoi households and around 50 in Pines Beach and Kairaki are still affected by sewer system problems.

The council was looking for a temporary solution for those people.

Mr Palmer said council staff had been working seven days a week but it was still going to take months and maybe a year to rebuild all the sewerage reticulation systems.

"The estimated costs are between $500 and $1000 a metre - it's expensive and takes a long time. This has been tough on affected residents and we have really appreciated their patience," he said.

- NZPA