Rising steam closes marae (+video)

Tunohopu marae chairwoman Norma Sterley looks over the geothermal activity that has sprung up in the marae's female toilets. Photo / Ben Fraser

Increased geothermal activity has temporarily closed a Rotorua marae.

Paretehoata (Tunohopu) Marae in Ohinemutu has steam and water coming through the floor of the women's toilets and for safety reasons the marae trust made the decision on Monday to close the wharenui for overnight stays.

Trust chairwoman Norma Sturley said that, at this stage, it was still unknown how long it would be off limits. She said the dining room, Rukuwai, was still available for use.

Tunohopu Marae is temporarily closed for overnight stays as water and steam have erupted in the marae's female toilets. Photo / Ben Fraser

"Until the geothermal activity is sorted out at the marae, it won't be available for sleepovers," Mrs Sturley said.

"There has been increased steam coming up through the floor of the wahine toilets and we are working to fix the situation with an engineer. We're just waiting on a geothermal report to decide on the appropriate thing to do to fix it.

"There is lots of repair work needing to be done so this could give us a chance to do that, depending on funding, but it could be a while. At this stage we are still semi using it but won't book it out to new groups.

"If there is a tangi the marae is not usable and depending on their whanau it may be held at Tamatekapua or Te Roro [o Te Rangi] marae instead," Mrs Sturley said.

"We do have a number of bookings and will have to lose those. They were valuable because that's our income."

Marae trustee Bill Kingi said Rotorua Welldrilling would conduct tests of the area before they take action.

"We've been wanting to put in a new bore to alleviate the pressure. The original bore closed more than 20 years ago and a lot of pressure has been blowing up holes at the back of Rukuwai, which has been part of the problem.

"We've had lot of problems with geothermal and it's become a safety hazard, so we have to do something about it before someone gets hurt."

Mr Kingi said they notice an increase in activity after it rains as it brought the thermal activity to the surface.

"This is not unusual, it's part of progress. Over the years there's more houses around and a road gone through and now things are blocked up. Way back [in the past] there was no pressure build up but all these developments have contributed to the geothermal activity and we just have to try and find ways around it, with the technology and funding putea [money]."