For close to four decades now there's been one vital cog in Whanganui's wastewater treatment system that has beavered away sight unseen.
That's probably because much of the workings of the Beach Rd pumping station are 3 stories underground and not the sort of utility the public would be flocking to see even if they could.
But the four electric pumps - along with a fifth that's on standby - have been pumping waste collected in the hundreds of kilometres of sewerage pipes criss-crossing the city into the treatment plant on Airport Rd.
The fact the plant has been mothballed and is undergoing a multi-million dollar makeover after the original system failed, has been well catalogued.
But even though the plant was decommissioned, those Beach Rd pumps haven't stopped.
In fact they've been in action since 1980.
A series of smaller pumping stations across Whanganui help get the wastewater to Beach Rd. Once there it is screened and large items collected.
The remainder is pumped through a pipeline under the Whanganui River to a collection point near the army huts at the western end of the city's airport and from there to the treatment plant itself.
With the plant out of action Beach Rd has been pumping the partially treated waste through the pipeline and directly into an outfall pipe that reaches more than 1km out into the Tasman Sea off South Beach.
Before the city treated its waste, all sewage was discharged directly into the Whanganui River. But between 1979-1984 the council completed works to intercept the waste and get it treated.
The revamped treatment system is on track to be operational in June 2018.