Source: Radio New Zealand
Wellington Mayor Andrew Little. RNZ / Mark Papalii
Some mayors in the Wellington region have weighed in on the Moa Point sewage plant failure and who should pay for it.
The facility started pumping raw sewage into the ocean off the south coast after it completely failed early Wednesday morning last week.
On the following Thursday evening, the raw sewage was diverted from being dumped near the coast to a 1.8km outfall pipe.
Wellington Water had warned it may need to use the short outfall pipe if it were to rain in the city.
Mayor Andrew Little said the Moa Point plant was a Wellington City Council asset, and it would deal with who pays once the plan to get the plant back online was in place.
In the meantime, the council would foot the bill.
“If there’s been a breach of obligations, a breach of duties, then that – to me – has to be sorted out between the parties. In the meantime, the critical thing is to get the [plant] recovered, fixed and back operating. The Wellington City Council will no doubt underwrite that cost.
“We want to know what went wrong, where the responsibility lies and if we can recover any costs, then obviously we want to do that.”
Porirua Mayor Anita Baker said councils were waiting to see what an independent inquiry into the meltdown revealed – and who should pay – to repair the plant.
Porirua Mayor Anita Baker. SUPPLIED
Baker supported Wellington Water and said the failure could have happened to almost any plant in the region. She said the problems at Moa Point reflected nearly 50 years of councils declining to invest in water infrastructure.
Upper Hutt Mayor Peri Zee supported calls for an independent inquiry into the facility’s failings.
“We absolutely need to see accountability and in principle costs apportioned by who is at fault.”
South Wairarapa Mayor Fran Wilde said there was no reason her district should help pay to repair Moa Point. Wilde said her council had stopped Wellington Water from running its assets, and the two would part ways in June.
She said capital works had already been delivered more swiftly and at lower cost without Wellington Water.
A Hutt City Council spokesperson said they fully supported an independent review.
“It’s early days, and at this point we haven’t been provided with any information regarding the potential repair costs or if that cost would be shared across the wider Wellington region.”
The spokesperson said the council would not speculate on what might happen until the facts were on the table.
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
