Beaches on the south coast are still off limits after the sewage spill.
Photo: RNZ / Samuel Rillstone
Wellington Water says it is monitoring wet weather forecast for the capital this weekend as its Moa Point plant continues to leak raw sewage.
The sewage plant melted down last week, flooding the building with waste and sending raw sewage into the nearby south coast.
Nearby beaches remained off limits due to tens of millions of litres of screened but untreated sewage flowing out the plant’s 1.8-kilometre outfall pipe each day.
The water company said it may have to use its outfall pipe nearby the beaches at short notice due to increased water flows.
It said if that happened a clean-up crew would be sent to the shoreline.
MetService was forecasting rain and large swells up to seven metres in size on Sunday and Monday in Wellington.
Wellington Water said removal of sewage from the plant and cleaning its rooms were ongoing.
It was also working on understanding the state of the plant’s equipment and operations.
“This assessment will take some time, and we still expect there will be an extended outage at the plant.”
Sewage spill raises bird strike fear at Wellington Airport
Wellington Airport says it has noticed increased bird activity near its runway this week, and it is taking safety measures for planes following the Moa Point failure.
Wellington Airport’s location is very close to Moa Point.
Wellington Airport is taking safety measures for planes following the Moa Point failure.
Photo: RNZ / Rebekah Parsons-King
With the risk of bird strike for aircraft in mind, its head of operations, Matthew Palliser, told RNZ they were monitoring the animals.
“We are keeping a close eye on bird activity around the airport and have noticed some increased activity at times this week, but we are always prepared for this.”
Palliser said the airport had regular patrols checking the runway and that they worked closely with the Airways control tower.
“When required, we use a range of tools to scare birds off, including different noises.
“We also have a full-time Wildlife Officer who monitors bird activity.”
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