JANUARY
KOHITATEA 2022
A stunning tribute to Tangaroa, god of the sea, was made on Days Bay Beach in mid Jan. Read more about it on Page 5.
Stink spoils summer fun as sewage discharged by Ann Packer Nothing has generated as much social media heat recently as the discharge of waste water at Windy Point on one of the best days of summer. On Tuesday 18 January, with hundreds of people on the beach and in the water at Days Bay, there were plenty of witnesses to the smell assailing residents, swimmers, kayakers and ferry users. A slick could be seen stretching across the bay. Videos were made, phone calls lodged and eventually a sign posted at Windy Point – unfortunately obscured by one of many illegally parked cars. But nobody came to advise beachgoers anything was amiss, in spite of one specific request to Wellington Water. Assisted by recurring southerlies, the smell, which we were assured was just that – air, rather than faecal matter – hung around Eastbourne and the bays for days. It’s been difficult to establish what really caused the problem, since no one at Wellington Water was willing to talk to The Eastbourne Herald. Instead, we’ve had press statements online via the Eastbourne Community Board, and two reluctant email replies. Finally, late last Friday before the long weekend, an email
confirmed Wellington Water had continued to check water quality over subsequent days and it was now deemed safe for swimming. It all started on Tuesday 11 January, according to Wastewater Chief Advisor Steve Hutchison, when Wellington Water started repairing a leak in the outfall pipe carrying treated wastewater from the Seaview plant to Bluff Point, south of Pencarrow Lighthouse. As part of this repair, on Tuesday 18 January, treated wastewater was discharged from a valve at Windy Point, 400m away from Days Bay. “D u r i ng t h i s pro c e s s ,” w rot e M r Hutchison, “stagnant water within the pipe caused an unpleasant smell, as mentioned on Facebook. We apologise for the smell and the inconvenience it has caused to nearby residents and beachgoers, the discharge has been stopped. We are currently testing the water and signs are in place advising people to avoid swimming in the area.” Subsequent testing took place on January 18, 19 and 20 and based on these results, WW said it was confident “there was not a health risk to swimmers in the Days Bay area". WW advises in a footnote to the above that “all the wastewater discharged from this pipe has been treated to a high standard. The Seaview Wastewater Treatment Plant removes
bacteria and viruses from wastewater by using a milliscreen, aeration basins, clarifiers and ultraviolet (UV) light before returning it to our waterways.” It also says it tests recreational bathing areas every fortnight, including at the height of summer. Chesca Haylock, who launched the Stop the Stench petition some months ago, has worked hard at establishing a relationship with Wellington Water and says they have been very helpful to her, with the site manager and on-site engineer giving her a tour of the treatment plant. Though she has focused on Seaview, not Eastbourne, she is continually in touch and with several others is keeping a diary, to help document when and where the smell occurs. She says WW are leaving air quality recorders off-site around their base boundary to see what that tells them. “I have established that at one or two points – Moera and Seaview roundabouts – it’s the pump stations rather than clarifiers that are causing the smell. “But it’s also evident they haven’t really done anything – there are processes in place but they aren’t really acknowledging there’s a problem outside their boundary.” Continues Page 7
Update on our electric ferry You may have spotted our fully electric ferry, Ika Rere, a little more out and about in the harbour recently. We're just waiting on some very final jobs and testing results to be completed for the Survey certificate from Maritime NZ - and can then get into some public sailings, with our commuters very much a priority. Keep an eye on our Facebook page for more updates. www.eastbywest.co.nz
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Photo credit: Simon Hoyle, Southlight Studio