The news this year has been full of Council sewerage systems failing. In Wellington, it’s been an environmental disaster with 70 million litres of raw sewage a day discharged into Lyall Bay for over a month. Iconic beaches like Piha in West Auckland have had to be closed because of sewage overflows and marine farmers are suing Auckland’s Watercare over discharges.
Controversy is raging in Christchurch over the broken Bromley treatment plant. Their Mayor is proposing releasing 30% of the city’s sewage into Pegasus Bay only partially treated for two years to enable it to be fixed. The common problem in all these cities is old equipment failing and insufficient investment to keep up with growth.
Nelson is much better placed with our wastewater because we have kept up the renewals and upgrades for growth. Our 400km of pipes, 30 pumpstations, Wakapuaka Treatment Plant and half share of the Bell Island Treatment Plant are worth about $400 million.
The greatest vulnerabilities of our wastewater system are ageing pumpstations and a lack of storage. We do get overflows during extreme rainfall. The Corder Park and Neale Park pumpstations were upgraded last decade. Council invested $14 million last term in a new Awatea pumpstation and storage tank in Stoke.
This term we are, as part of the Bridge to Better project, planning to build a new $23 million pumpstation in Paru Paru Road, with $10 million of Government support. The existing pumpstation is old, too small and has no storage. We risk a breakdown or the pump being overwhelmed resulting in raw sewage flowing into the Maitai River and Nelson Haven. The risk rises each year due to the pump ageing, central city developments and more frequent storms. The new pump increases capacity from 56 to 320 l/s and provides 800,000 l of storage. It hugely reduces the risk of a failure and sewage spill.
Sewerage pumpstations are like airport runways and highways – everybody knows we need them but no-one wants one in their backyard. The next step is getting consents. Delays will add millions, slow central-city development and increase risks of a failure. We need to get on with it.
