Wellington Water responding to wastewater overflow at Eastbourne

Wellington Water crews are responding to a wastewater overflow, which started on Saturday afternoon at Days Bay, Eastbourne.

Crews were stood down overnight for health and safety reasons with an incoming high tide and poor light. The site has been monitored overnight.

The overflow is a result of a breakage in a wastewater pipe next to the Days Bay pump station. Currently, treated, and untreated wastewater is discharging into Days Bay.

As part of preparations for the repair work, the main wastewater outfall pipeline to Pencarrow Heads has been temporarily closed off. This will result in the discharge of fully treated wastewater to Waiwhetū Stream. This is to manage flows to ensure the safety of crews before work to start repairing the pipe.  

 Jeremy McKibbin, Group Manager of Network Management says, “We are doing all we can to minimise the environmental impacts of the overflow. This is a complex repair in a coastal environment with multiple wastewater pump stations in the immediate area. It is not clear yet how long the repair work will take, but it is likely to be several days.”

Wastewater tankers are being mobilised over the day to move wastewater to the treatment plant to minimise the discharge of wastewater into the environment until the repair can be completed.

Eastbourne residents are being asked to reduce household use of toilets and showers, when possible, to minimise any extra pressure on the wastewater network.

“Any little thing residents can do to reduce usage will help. If you can, when using the toilet, stick to the half-flush and save the full flush for when you really need it. Avoiding long showers will help too,” adds Jeremy.

More information on how to conserve water can be found on Wellington Water’s website.

Public health signage has been erected along the affected area and Wellington Water recommends all recreational water users follow the advice of Land, Air, Water Aotearoa (LAWA) - https://www.lawa.org.nz/explore-data/swimming/

Water sampling in the environment has been undertaken along the affected area and this will continue over the next few days.

“We are doing all we can to get the pipe fixed and thank the Eastbourne community for their patience and support as our crews undertake the work,” says Jeremy.

Regular updates on our response to this incident will be posted on the Wellington Water Facebook page - https://www.facebook.com/share/sgMYgiA2PhgmYNh3/.