![\"Central](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/4JL6QDC_fae3e563_4ab3_47b3_a86c_b6b4c53621ad_jfif.jpeg\")
<\/p>\nAuckland’s biggest sewer pipe officially in action<\/p>\n
Checkpoint<\/p>\n
After seven years and $1.66 billion, Auckland’s second most anticipated tunnel is up and running.<\/p>\n
The Central Interceptor is an enormous sewer pipe running from Herne Bay, in central Auckland, down to the Mangere Wastewater Plant.<\/p>\n
Watercare describes it as the backbone of Auckland’s sewer system, but some of the ribs won’t be built until well beyond 2030.<\/p>\n
Deputy Mayor Desley Simpson said it would take some time for Aucklanders to enjoy the project’s benefits.<\/p>\n
“They won’t see it straight away… It’s a start though. It enables all these things to happen because it takes more pressure off the older infrastructure,” she said.<\/p>\n
In recent years, Aucklanders had become well acquainted with wastewater overflows.<\/p>\n
Black flags on the council’s Safeswim website warning beachgoers to stay out of the water had been a regular sight across the Waitemat\u0101 Harbour.<\/p>\n
Watercare chief executive Jamie Sinclair said the Central Interceptor was already making a difference.<\/p>\n
“One of the great things about the Central Interceptor is it does take a lot of pressure off some of that older infrastructure, like the Orakei main sewer, which is very old, so we’ll be able to do some rehabilitation of those interceptors.”<\/p>\n
But he warned that overflows wouldn’t disappear overnight.<\/p>\n
“The Central Interceptor does create more capacity into our overall network, so it’ll help with that resilience,” he said.<\/p>\n
“It doesn’t fix the problem. There will still be overflows, but this will dramatically improve our ability to reduce overflows over time.”<\/p>\n
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Watercare chief executive Jamie Sinclair says the Central Interceptor is already making a difference.<\/p>\n
Supplied<\/p>\n
Deputy Mayor Desley Simpson said it was the first bullet point on a long to-do list, now that Watercare was financially independent from Auckland Council.<\/p>\n
“Projects like this make a huge difference for the future, but more important, they are the start. They are the enabler for even more investment for the future,” she said.<\/p>\n
“I think one of the great things about Watercare, now being able to stand on its own two feet, and borrow more money, you will see a faster growth programme.”<\/p>\n
One of the projects still clogging the pipeline was the Newmarket Gully, originally pencilled for 2016 but now marked for 2034.<\/p>\n