Watercare denies raw sewage claim in Mahurangi River

A farming family on the Mahurangi River is disgusted by what they believe is sewage waste washing up on a beach that runs alongside their farm, and Watercare’s attitude to their concerns.

They believe the pollution may have originated from wastewater infrastructure in Warkworth, which was overwhelmed during the anniversary weekend storms earlier this year.

However, Watercare has denied this claim.

The Lawries, who have farmed on Ridge Road at Scotts Landing for four generations, first noticed the waste in early February and took a photo of a long line of what they believed was toilet paper, floating just off the beach and coming down the river with the tide.

In subsequent days, the paper washed up on the beach and became entangled in overhanging tree branches.

“When the sun came out, the stench was absolutely terrible,” family spokesperson Geoff Bagnall says. “It reeked.”

The issue was reported to Watercare and two representatives visited the property and allegedly took samples.

“When they were here, they said they thought it was probably coming from the boats moored further down the river!

It’s not coming from that direction – it’s coming down the river and washing into our little bay,” Bagnall says.

Shortly after being down on the beach cutting firewood and generally clearing up after the storm, Bagnall became extremely unwell and was diagnosed with a campylobacter infection.

He believes his illness was linked to the waste on the beach.

“It knocked me hard out and I lost six kilos in a week.”

Finally, after hearing nothing from Watercare for weeks, Bagnall contacted them again late last month. They apologised for the delay in responding and reported that, in their opinion, there were “no known issues”.

Bagnall said the Watercare representative also added, “It would be weird for toilet paper to make it that distance”.

In response to enquiries from Mahurangi Matters for the results of the water quality tests, a Watercare spokesperson said, “Our team visited the beach at Scott’s Landing in February and confirmed it was not related to any of our infrastructure, so did not take any water quality samples.”

Bagnall, who was on the beach at the time, says this is not true.

“They definitely took samples in what looked like a two-litre milk bottle.”

Watercare says, “It might have looked like we took samples, but we didn’t.”

It maintains that it does not have wastewater pipes in this area so could not be the source of the pollution and the officers would have been able to tell this by visiting the beach [without the need for testing].

“On that side of the peninsula, our wastewater network ends at Kia Kaha Drive, about eight kilometres away from Scott’s Landing.”

Watercare forwarded the complaint to Auckland Council’s Healthy Waters, who directed their enquiries to the Scotts Landing toilet block several kilometres away, where they found the facility operating as normal.

Asked where they thought the contamination may have come from,

Healthy Waters said it could have come from a variety of sources.

“Council will carry out further monitoring and sampling over the next two weeks.” Bagnall says the family hasn’t risked floundering or swimming since the toilet paper turned up.

“It’s just not a healthy environment down there anymore.”