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\nSigns on Wellington’s South Coast about the wastewater spill. (File photo)
\nPhoto: RNZ \/ Samuel Rillstone\n<\/p>\n
The Moa Point failure in Wellington, has been a “nightmare” for the south coast community, a business group says, and a financial package is vital for some businesses’ survival.<\/p>\n
It comes as Wellington City Councillors approved a financial support package<\/a> of $200,000 – with one-off grants of up to $35,000 available.<\/p>\n In a council meeting on Thursday, Destination KRL general manager Steve Walters said the grant would be a “a matter of survival” for some.<\/p>\n “[The grant] will be totally well-used for businesses that are really struggling on the south coast.”<\/p>\n Walters said over six billion litres of raw sewage<\/a> had spewed into the sea since 4 February, when the wastewater treatment plant flooded.<\/p>\n \nSignage on Wellington’s south coast in March. (File photo) That had resulted in a “massive” drop in visitors to the South Coast and people avoiding the water, especially Lyall Bay, he said.<\/p>\n “The Moa Point plant failure, it’s a nightmare – on top of a really tough period for businesses – that should never have happened.”<\/p>\n He said that 25 businesses in the area had lost between 25 and 70 percent of their revenue due to the disaster.<\/p>\n Three months on, businesses had not been told anything about when exactly the plant would be fixed, he said.<\/p>\n Ocean Hunter owner Hugh Collins, who previously said the sewage disaster was “gutwrenching” said he was reducing his own income to keep staff employed, but could no longer do that.<\/p>\n \nHugh Collins said his diving business had been drastically impacted by the Moa Point failure. “I’ve got a newborn son, he’s five weeks old, I can’t support my family if this continues and we don’t see support.”<\/p>\n His business – which specialised in spear-fishing, free-diving and scuba-diving equipment, relied on activity in summer months, to get through winter.<\/p>\n Collins urged the council to take another look at the criteria for the grants which mandated a 50 percent reduction in revenue to be eligible for the grants.<\/p>\n “If we miss out on this kind of funding, we will go under. I won’t have an income, I’ll have to let go our staff, where there will be six of us unemployed. And that’s just the truth of it.”<\/p>\n In order to be eligible, businesses would have to apply for the grants and meet certain criteria, including being located within a “high-impact zone”, or directly reliant on ocean activities, be Wellington-owned with fewer than 20 employees, and operating for at least a year.<\/p>\n Councillors decided to increase the amount of the financial package from $150,000 to $200,000. About $150,000 comes from the City Growth Fund, and $50,000 from organisational savings.<\/p>\n The fund had originally been set at $300,000, with Wellington Water asked to contribute, Little previously told RNZ.<\/p>\n![\"Check](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/4JSA4EF_IMG_0607_jpeg.jpeg\")
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\nPhoto: Kate Pereyra\/RNZ\n<\/p>\n![\"Hugh](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/4JPGMC1_IMG_0632_jpeg.jpeg\")
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\nPhoto: RNZ \/ Ellen O’Dwyer\n<\/p>\n
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