![\"Rongotai](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/4JY629Z_Andrew_Little_1_jpg.jpeg\")
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\nWellington Mayor Andrew Little.
\nPhoto: RNZ \/ Mark Papalii\n<\/p>\n
Some mayors in the Wellington region have weighed in on the Moa Point sewage plant failure and who should pay for it.<\/p>\n
The facility started pumping raw sewage into the ocean off the south coast<\/a> after it completely failed early Wednesday morning last week.<\/p>\n On the following Thursday evening, the raw sewage was diverted from being dumped near the coast to a 1.8km outfall pipe<\/a>.<\/p>\n Wellington Water had warned it may need to use the short outfall pipe if it were to rain in the city.<\/p>\n Mayor Andrew Little said<\/a> the Moa Point plant was a Wellington City Council asset, and it would deal with who pays once the plan to get the plant back online was in place.<\/p>\n In the meantime, the council would foot the bill.<\/p>\n “If there’s been a breach of obligations, a breach of duties, then that – to me – has to be sorted out between the parties. In the meantime, the critical thing is to get the [plant] recovered, fixed and back operating. The Wellington City Council will no doubt underwrite that cost.<\/p>\n “We want to know what went wrong, where the responsibility lies and if we can recover any costs, then obviously we want to do that.”<\/p>\n Porirua Mayor Anita Baker said councils were waiting to see what an independent inquiry into the meltdown revealed<\/a> – and who should pay – to repair the plant.<\/p>\n \nPorirua Mayor Anita Baker. Baker supported Wellington Water and said the failure could have happened to almost any plant in the region<\/a>. She said the problems at Moa Point reflected nearly 50 years of councils declining to invest in water infrastructure<\/a>.<\/p>\n Upper Hutt Mayor Peri Zee supported calls for an independent inquiry into the facility’s failings.<\/p>\n “We absolutely need to see accountability and in principle costs apportioned by who is at fault.”<\/p>\n South Wairarapa Mayor Fran Wilde said there was no reason her district should help pay<\/a> to repair Moa Point. Wilde said her council had stopped Wellington Water from running its assets, and the two would part ways in June.<\/p>\n She said capital works had already been delivered more swiftly and at lower cost without Wellington Water.<\/p>\n A Hutt City Council spokesperson said they fully supported an independent review.<\/p>\n “It’s early days, and at this point we haven’t been provided with any information regarding the potential repair costs or if that cost would be shared across the wider Wellington region.”<\/p>\n The spokesperson said the council would not speculate on what might happen until the facts were on the table.<\/p>\n![\"No](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/4M3M5OH_image_crop_130918.jpeg\")
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\nPhoto: SUPPLIED\n<\/p>\n