Taupō mayor calls wastewater spillage a 'disaster'

Wednesday, 3 July 2019

In July, Taupō Mayor David Trewavas called the spillage a 'disaster' (Video first published in July, 2019).

Moving ground conditions caused the wastewater leak into Lake Taupō in an incident Mayor David Trewavas said was 'basically a disaster'.

Trewavas said the water pipe broke about 3pm on Tuesday, and the footpath above it collapsed, allowing the wastewater to spill into the lake for three hours.

He said the pipe in question carried around 70 per cent of the CBD wastewater to the treatment plant, and it's collapse was 'basically a disaster'.

Engineers were on the scene of the burst sewage pipe on Wednesday morning.

Since the initial spillage he said three pumps had been put in place to divert wastewater and 'absolutely no water is going into the lake now'.

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The Harbour Master also inspected the site on Wednesday.

*Taupō wastewater spill makes way down river, people urged to stay out of water

*Fewer sewage spills down to public doing their part, council says

Taupō Mayor David Trewavas inspects the site on Lake Terrace.

*Wastewater spill closes popular swimming spot in** Taupō

Three hours of wastewater spillage is travelling up the Waikato River after a water main broke in Taupō, causing a large washout on the lakefront.

'It's all off to the treatment plant as we speak.'

Trewavas also asked the community to try and continue limiting their water use if possible.

'If you can get away without flushing or using the shower, laundry, washing machines over the next day it would be truly appreciated,' he said.

'But if you've got to flush it away, flush it away, its not going into the lake.'

Large parts of Lake Terrace are now blocked off.

Taupō District Council chief executive Gareth Green said the water pipe that failed was just 20 years into an expected life expectancy of 100 years.

'It failed due to moving ground conditions, probably due to slumping, earthquake, vibration or a combination of similar factors,' he said.

A major water main break on Taupō's Lake Terrace has council asking residents not to flush their toilets. A collapsing footpath took out a wastewater pipe, and it appears some wastewater got into the lake.

'It has nothing to do with investment in the infrastructure, it was in perfectly good order until the landslide. No money would have been able to prevent this from occurring.'

He said he was proud of the team that had been working on the site in poor weather to stop the spillage into the lake, and also thanked residents who has reduced their water usage.

A water main burst on Taupo's Lake Terrace, and then the footpath collapsed and took out a wastewater pipe.

'No one wanted this to happen, but we are doing everything we can to reduce the impact.'

'We had some of the largest pumps in the country delivered at 10pm [Tuesday] night, due to people driving across the country to deliver them at short notice. We need to be thankful for everyone going above and beyond to help out.'

Waikato Regional Council have said they have had staff on site since Tuesday afternoon collecting samples, though results from testing 'can take up to 48 hours'.

They said that if sewage has entered the Waikato River through the Lake Taupō gates, then it will have likely reached the Aratiatia Dam. Drinking water was not affected.

'Our scientists are investigating the dilution rate to understand what the risk, if any, is for downstream water users and will provide updated information as soon as it's available,' a spokesperson said.

Trewavas said a number of businesses had been affected, but was eager to stress Taupō remained open for business.

'No one's closed, hospitality is operating as per normal, retail too, schools are open.'

Stuff found mixed views from businesses located on Lake Terrace, opposite the incident site.

Pub n Grub duty manager Dannika Cork-Peters said they were actually busier than the normal winter Wednesday.

'Everyone's coming in for a nosy,' she said.

Cafe Baku owner Vaughan Nairn said he believed takings were down a little, but 'we're lucky it's an isolated case'.

The Coffee Club's Navneet Kaur, however, had definitely seen a drop off in customers.

She said her main concern was the loss of parking spaces outside.

'We are losing customers. People don't want to walk.'

All of the businesses Stuff spoke to said they believed it was better the collapse happened now in the slower winter months, but a number also raised fears of a prolonged road closure with the school holiday's approaching.

It's not the town's first experience with wastewater mishaps, with a spate of spills in 2018.

In Hamilton, monitoring has increased and staff are making sure reservoirs hold more water than normal but city waters compliance manager Trent Fowles does not anticipate any disruption to supply.

'As has been previously identified, there would be significant dilution between Taupo and Hamilton,' Fowles said. 'We will continue to monitor the situation and will alert the community immediately if there is an impact on the quality of the city's drinking water.'