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The-Dominion-Post
Repairs to two broken pipes are underway in Wellington on Thursday (FILE PHOTO)
Two separate pipeline failures on Wellington’s boardwalk cut off the water for some residents and caused sewage to flow into the port Thursday morning.
It started at 8 a.m. at Oriental Parade, where a burst water main spilled onto the street. Wellington Water crews shut off water to 100 properties on the street.
Emergency water supplies were installed at 9 am, with a tanker truck and bottled water available to residents. Wellington Water expected the repairs to take around four hours.
The crews had barely been on site for a few minutes when a second pipeline emergency emerged a few hundred meters around the corner.
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A blockage in a sewage pipeline on Featherston Street forced the sewage to be diverted to the port of Wellington.
The sewage was discharged under the Commonwealth walkway near Queens Wharf.
A Wellington Water staff member confirmed that the blockage was caused by a ‘fatberg’ – a solid lump of cooking grease and non-disposable items like wet wipes or washcloths.
ROSA WOODS / Things
100 homes in Wellington’s East Bay were left without potable water Thursday morning.
The main blockade was removed at 10.20 a.m. M., But it soon became clear that other smaller fatbergs were causing trouble in the vicinity.
“We are currently waiting for traffic management to establish the site to allow dump trucks to access the sewage network to help remove the additional fatbergs that impede flow to the pump station. Upon completion, we will discharge the overflow outlet to remove any debris, ”said a spokesperson.
Wellington Water / Stuff
Wellington Water crews responded to the ruptured and blocked pipes on Wellington’s waterfront on Thursday.
It was a timely reminder to Wellington residents to just throw out the “three ‘Ps: poop, pee and toilet paper,” the spokesman said.
The boardwalk will not be safe for swimming for at least 48 hours, and warning signs will be posted around the area. The water will be tested regularly for the next three days.
Wellington Water was not yet able to confirm the total amount of wastewater that was discharged into the port.
Sewage was discharged into the Port of Wellington on several occasions last summer, including 12 million over three days in December after a corroded pipe collapsed at the top of Willis St – the equivalent of sewage from an Olympic swimming pool. every day.
Ross Giblin / Stuff
Mayor Andy Foster braves the water in Oriental Bay after the beach was again declared safe for swimming after sewage flowed into the harbor in December 2019.
Wellington’s pipes are 51 years old on average, the oldest of any city in New Zealand, and more than a third are in poor condition, according to an analysis by Water New Zealand.
The Wellington City Council has been told to budget up to $ 5 billion in new pipeline expenditures to clear the backlog of existing problems and prepare for population growth.
