Howick and Pakuranga
Death at traffic lights P5
AWARD-WINNING VOICE OF THE COMMUNITY – NZCNA Thursday, January 31, 2019
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Excrement overflow nightmare By THERESE HENKIN
I
magine waking up to the pungent smell of the neighbourhood’s sewage overflowing into your backyard. This was the reality for one Pakuranga family who woke on Saturday January 19 to find waste water pouring out of the gully trap on their property, flooding the garden and underneath their home. The Guyan family, who live on the lower end of Gossamer Drive directly above the main sewerage pipe for the neighbourhood, spent an entire day trying to prevent their home from flooding with sewage. The only way to protect their home was to dig trenches and cut a large hole into their retaining wall to divert the waste water away. A substantial amount of waste water had already collected beneath their home, while the rest of it poured into the stream behind their house. “It was horrendous and we had absolutely no idea what to do. Faeces and toilet paper were several inches deep. But it took more than 30 minutes to get through to someone at Watercare on their emergency line,” says Annelies Guyan.
Phil Guyan dug trenches and cut a hole into the retaining wall to divert waste water overflow away from their home to avoid it seeping into the house. Photo supplied
“We found Watercare extremely slow to react. The first two people who turned up to our house were largely unhelpful and weren’t able to tell us what could be done. “Meanwhile my husband is desperately trying to stop the sewage from leaking into our home.” The couple say it took less than three seconds to fill a 10 litre bucket. They estimate more than 80,000 litres of sewage came out of the gully trap between 8am and 3pm when the flow finally stopped. “We had also been in contact with the fire ser-
Simeon Brown MP for Pakuranga
vice who said they said they couldn’t believe that Watercare hadn’t yet done anything to slow down the overflow. Unfortunately they were unable to help unless the water literally seeped into our house.” Guyan said she and her family are furious because they were promised by Manukau Water that yearly maintenance of the sewerage pipe would be undertaken. “They haven’t cleaned these pipes in years, and it was just a matter of time before this happened.” Guyan said it wasn’t until around 12.45pm when a senior Watercare employee arrived that the family were given any direction or apology. At 4pm, after more than seven hours of constant overflow, a clean-up crew arrived. Guyan said they did a good job, but she was shocked that nobody from watercare was present to oversee the clean up. She and her husband, who know nothing about waste management and clean-up, were responsible for pointing them in the right direction, she says. “There ended up being areas we forgot to tell them about that should have been tended to that ➤ Turn to Page 5 weren’t.”
Anniversary Day on Stockade Hill was a perfect spot to fly kites.
120a Pakuranga Road, Pakuranga
P
09 572 0000
E
PakurangaMP@parliament.govt.nz
W
simeonbrown.national.org.nz
Windy blustery weather on Anniversary Day morning didn’t deter some keen members and they were rewarded when the sun came out shining for the
annual Howick Ratepayers and Residents Association picnic on Stockade Hill. “Those who attended enjoyed the camaraderie and a chance for the kids to
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fly kites and play games on our iconic landmark,” said an HRRA spokesperson. “We look forward to an even brighter and sunnier anniversary day next year.”
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