Whanganui District Council plans 14km pipeline for Mowhanau Village sewage

Mowhanau's wastewater scheme was built in the 1980s. Photo / NZME

Sewage from Mowhanau Village near Whanganui will be pumped to the city’s main treatment plant, costing $8.1 million over the next 50 years.

Replacing the village’s current set-up would cost $5.8m more over the same period.

Whanganui District Council senior wastewater engineer Tony Hooper said Mowhanau’s wastewater scheme was built in the 1980s by Waitotara County Council and the consent expired in 2021.

“We are currently operating under existing use rights because we made an application for a new consent six months prior to the consent expiring,” he said.

“During that time, new wastewater regulations have come out and there are new discharge standards we have to meet.”

Mowhanau Village at Kai Iwi Beach is about 16km from central Whanganui.

The city’s wastewater treatment plant is on Airport Rd.

Hooper told the Whanganui Rural Community Board a new pipe would run from Mowhanau along Rapanui, Francis and Tayforth Roads, and join with the reticulation at Springvale Rd, a distance of about 14km.

Piping waste to the city would cost $8.1m over 50 years, while a “like-for-like” local system would cost $13.9m, the report said.

He told the board waste from septic tanks in the village went through sand filter beds - “quite old technology” - and on to an irrigation paddock.

“During summer, we just spray the effluent over the paddock and during winter, when soakage is not so good, there are soak pits which we discharge to.”

It had been planned to install a new pump station opposite the Mowhanau Lookout carpark on Sunset Parade but the community did not want it so close to a popular location, he said.

“We’ve gone back to the designer, looking at where we can relocate it,” he said.

“The first part of the construction will be installing the pipeline and I’m hopeful that by mid-year we’ll be started on that.”

Mike Tweed is a multimedia journalist at the Whanganui Chronicle. Since starting in March 2020, he has dabbled in everything from sport to music. At present his focus is local government, primarily Whanganui District Council.