Waste water from 300 homes in Auckland the Red Hills development gets trucked off-site to a pumping station. Video / Jason Oxenham
Three more housing developments to have sewage trucked away before the practice ends, says Watercare
Residents at a West Auckland development where this is already happening are complaining about the stench
We must slow down intensification until our infrastructure has caught up, says Councillor Ken Turner
Watercare plans to stop trucking sewage from new housing developments, but not before three more developments begin the practice, at Warkworth and at two beach settlements on the Manukau Harbour.
The Herald revealed last week that sewage from 300 new homes in West Auckland was goinginto holding tanks and then trucked to a wastewater pump station because there was no permanent wastewater infrastructure.
At Cardinal West, a 470-home development on a former dairy farm at Red Hills, tankers have been making about 90 trips a week since 2022 to remove sewage from 300 homes to the Massey North wastewater pump station.
Watercare said the practice would start at Warkworth Ridge for 646 homes from October this year, followed by Kahawai Point at Glenbrook Beach for 800 coastal homes from August 2025, and the 50ha Clarks Beach Waterfront Estate from May 2026.
Transporting sewage from the Glenbrook and Clarks Beach developments will continue until the upgrade of Watercare’s Clarks Beach wastewater treatment plant and outfall pipeline are complete, expected to be in mid-2026.
Watercare said using tankers from Warkworth Ridge will continue until the Warkworth north-west growth servicing pipeline is completed. This project is in the planning and design phase, and Watercare expects to confirm the pipeline’s route later this year. The timing has not been confirmed.
Sewage being collected by tanker at one of four tank farms at Cardinal West. Photo / Jason Oxenham
“We have no plans to approve any new resource consents that require an interim wastewater solution,” Watercare head of major developments Mark Iszard said.
The council’s water body said removing sewage by tankers was complex to set up and operate and increased the risk of intermittent odours to nearby residents.
When the Herald visited Cardinal West last week, residents complained about the odours coming from four “tank farms” at the development on the urban-rural fringe in West Auckland.
“It’s like Rotorua but a little bit more potent. It smells like poo,” said one woman, who rents a house with her partner and three children across the road from one of four “tank farms” at Cardinal West.
Another resident described the situation as not so bad in winter but summer is potentially going to be really bad with the heat and the stench.
Watercare said its preference is for development to occur in line with Auckland Council’s Future Development Strategy, which sets out the anticipated timing of any area’s development and the infrastructure needed to support the growth.
Four 'tank farms' have been built behind boarded-up fences at Cardinal West. Photo / Jason Oxenham
In the case of Cardinal West, council planners granted resource consent for temporary wastewater servicing arrangements in 2020.
Cardinal West is part of the Whenuapai and Redhills wastewater project to service future urban development in the northwest.
Watercare is hopeful Cardinal West will have permanent wastewater infrastructure by late 2025, later than a previous schedule of early next year.
Asked if there were disputes with landowners or developers, Watercare said it was negotiating with landowners to build a pipe through their properties and had factored that into the late 2025 completion date.
Waitakere councillor Ken Turner says trucking away sewage is just the old-fashioned night cart going door to door.
Waitakere councillor Ken Turner said Cardinal West pointed to the naive political belief that delivering more houses solves Auckland’s problems.
“We must slow down intensification until our infrastructure has caught up.
“Tankering wastewater by road is just the old-fashioned night cart going door to door, " he said.
Bernard Orsman is an award-winning reporter who has been covering Auckland’s local politics and transport since 1998. Before that, he worked in the parliamentary press gallery for six years.
