Local board supports the Wastewater Network Strategy

Water is never far from the news. Now Rodney Local Board is being asked to provide feedback on Watercare’s Wastewater Network Strategy.

Board chair Brent Bailey says the strategy is a critical part of Watercare’s 35-year Network Discharge Consent with Auckland Council, and details how the organisation plans to deal with overflows and improve the public wastewater network.

“The strategy is reviewed every six years and outlines reports on network condition, performance, and proposed improvements, and as part of Watercare’s consent conditions, it has to consult with various groups, including local boards.”

He says few people appreciate how vast Watercare’s network is, the network made up of 8000 kilometres of pipes and more than 500 pump stations that move sewage from homes, businesses, and industrial sites to treatment plants.

“Something like 410 million litres of wastewater gets treated every day in the city’s treatment plants,” Bailey says.

Proposed works to improve the network are broken out into board areas, with Rodney plans divided further into: Wellsford, Omaha, Warkworth, Snells Beach/Algies Bay, Helensville and Kumeu/Huapai/Riverhead.

Bailey says the overall strategy focuses on unintended overflows – where wastewater spills out from gully traps, manholes, engineered overflow points or pump stations, and flows into public or private property, waterways, and the sea.

“Overflows mostly occur because of blockages, lack of capacity, cracks and leaks in pipes, power outages, or broken parts.”

Watercare says some catchments within Rodney require more work to reduce overflows than others. “

It largely depends on how they are performing now, and how much they are expected to grow,” Bailey says. “When work is prioritised, it takes several things into consideration, such as asset condition, risk to public and ecological values, short-term needs, costs and the opportunity for joint projects.”

Watercare says the Warkworth catchment has been classified as medium priority because of the number of overflows and the network’s age.

Potential work identified for Warkworth includes projects to deal with growth, including new sewers and pump stations in the next decade to take flow to the Snells Bay treatment works, to remove overflows at Elizabeth St and reduce them at Palmer St. That project will see the Warkworth treatment plant decommissioned. Other significant projects include the Warkworth to Snells pipeline, including upgrading sewers at Snells Beach, and the outfall, and building a pump station at Warkworth. It’s projected that work will need to be done before the end of 2026, and at a cost of around $400 million.

Bailey says it’s perfectly natural that people don’t think too much about wastewater.

“We turn on a tap and fresh water, we flush and take the plug out of the sink and the wastewater magically goes away.

“Except that it isn’t magic. It takes a lot of effort, planning, time and money to ensure that happens, which makes it critical we give considered feedback that can help Watercare make quality decisions.”

Rodney Local Board office opens in Warkworth

The new facility, at 3 Elizabeth Street, features office space for the local board and staff, and a dedicated local board meeting room.

Matanga Richard Nahi spoke the whakawatea blessing making the new space ready for the local board and preparing it for them to work together and deliver good outcomes for the Rodney community.

Chair Brent Bailey says finally the office is physically located in the local board area as recommended by the Local Government Commission in 2018.

The new board room will cater for the monthly local board business meetings which are open to the public.