Pat Dougherty says it could take months before it is safe to swim on Wellington's South Coast.
The Government has agreed to an independent inquiry to ascertain what caused Wellington’s “catastrophic” wastewater treatment plant failure that’s sent raw sewage into the sea.
Wellington Mayor Andrew Little said he had a “very positive and constructive meeting” with Prime Minister Christopher Luxon this evening to discuss the Moa Pointtreatment plant failure.
On Wednesday last week, the plant was flooded by raw sewage, causing it to shut down and be evacuated. As a result, raw sewage is instead being pumped out into the ocean on Wellington’s south coast.
When asked how bad the failure was on a scale of one to 100, Wellington Water chief executive Pat Dougherty gave it a 90.
“On the issue of the Moa Point sewage treatment plant, we agreed we do need an independent inquiry,” Little said after this evening’s meeting.
He said they discussed what might be the quickest way to get an independent investigation.
“The remediation work is going to start in a matter of weeks, and we need to know what we’re going to do to fix the plant and get it operating again.
“We want to get an investigation underway as quickly as possible, and the Minister said he’s very keen to cooperate to do that, so we’re working together to make sure we get an investigation set up.
“I think we all share the same concern, and one of those concerns is to get to the bottom of what the cause was.”
Sewage can be seen on Wellington's south coast after a leak from the Moa Point wastewater plant. Photo / Kate Taptiklis
Little said having got through the initial response phase, the council’s now got to think about what the next few weeks and also the next few months look like.
He said the other important thing is thinking about the people detrimentally affected by this, particularly the people who are living near the site and the people in the businesses who are on the site.
“Wellington City Council is accountable to them,” he said. “It’s a matter of urgency that we get that sorted out as quickly as possible.”
Little told NZME earlier today that the big question surrounding the incident is establishing the cause.
“My preference is for a ministerial inquiry under the Inquiries Act because I think that’s going to give us the best chance of getting all the relevant information from all the players who have a stake in this to get the best conclusion,” Little said.
He thought it was too early to speculate on the cause.
“Nobody should be speculating about what the causes might be. That’s the reason why we need a genuinely independent inquiry with appropriate experts,” Little said.
Raw sewerage from the Moa Point Wastewater Treatment Plant discharging from the outfall pipe metres from the shore at Tarakena Bay. Photo / Mark Mitchell
What progress is being made?
Little said the plant is in a “complete failed state” at the moment, but progress is being made on cleaning.
He said there are efforts to put in odour-minimising measures to help ease concerns for nearby residents.
“There are a number of things running at once, but the sooner we can get an inquiry up and the sooner it can conclude its work and tell us what the causes are, then it’s going to be easier to get a repair to the plant. That means we minimise the risk of this again,” he said.
He said Wellington Water and Wellington City Council workers are monitoring people on the south coast, making sure they have public health information.
Wellington Mayor Andrew Little. Photo / Mark Mitchell
Little said the monitoring results were “encouraging”.
“They’re showing, apart from around the short outfall and around the Moa Point area, reasonably low levels of contamination, so that’s encouraging,” Little said.
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