Source: Radio New Zealand
Moa Point Wastewater Plant RNZ / Samuel Rillstone
Wellington Water estimates around 3 million litres of untreated, unscreened wastewater has been discharged into the sea in the last 24 hours.
On 4 February the Moa Point Wastewater Plant failed, sending millions of litres of raw sewage into Cook Strait every day.
The majority of wastewater is being screened and discharged through the long outfall pipe, but excess volumes of unscreened wastewater are going into the sea through the short outfall pipe.
Wellington Water says Moa Point currently can only pump between 1300 and 1500 litres per second through the long outfall – more than enough for average dry weather flows.
Prior to this week’s stormy weather, the shortfall pipe had not had to be used since the plant flooded earlier this month.
Wellington Water asked the public to avoid flushing non-biodegradable items such as wet wipes and personal care products (ie. pads, tampons) to help reduce the amount of unscreened material being discharged from the short outfall pipe.
It said workers onsite at Moa Point were continuing to assess the damage, and working to manage odour and network flows.
“Our top priority is to increase the volume of screened wastewater that can be discharged via the long outfall pipe.”
Wellington Water said it was working this week to construct a much larger air vent on the outfall pipe to help improve the flow of water through the pipe.
“We are continuing to look for other options to increase the flow through the long outfall pipe, while screening remains the only treatment function in operation.”
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
