After the most recent spill of sewage into the harbour at 78 Greenslade Road, theTainui hapu says that the Waikato District Council response is not good enough. A media release by WDC General Manager Tim Harty had provided little information on what was being done. Hapu environmental spokesperson Angeline Greensill asked the Council, “How many staff have you got working to fix this latest problem and what is involved?”
Council waters manager Martin Mould responded saying, “We currently have 5 staff plus CCTV contractor carrying out these inspections with other staff assisting as there workloads permit.”
Mr Mould added, “We have identified 280 Sewer manholes within 100 meters of waterways in Raglan and have prioritised Lorenzen bay/Greenslade Road area. The work involves lifting these manholes for a visual inspection, a CCTV inspection of critical assets or any others that fail the visual inspection. The Lorenzen Bay/Greenslade Road area is expected to be complete by Friday afternoon with all of the visual inspection of 280 manholes complete by the end of next week. This work will then be scheduled as an annual inspection. Any defects will be prioritised and addressed.
Raglan 23 website is running a poll on WDC’s management of the Raglan wastewater system. As of 21st August, 84% says that management of wastewater needs to be improved a lot.
The full text of the email conversation follows:
rom: Angeline Greensill
Sent: Wednesday, 19 August 2015 10:13 p.m.
To: Martin Mould
Subject: Re: Wastewater Overflow rear of 78 Greenslade Road Raglan
Kia ora Martin,
Raw sewage entering the harbour is something the hapu have raised concerns about for over 40 years, so this latest spill is not good enough. We understand that increased storage capacity is planned for Nihinihi avenue but it seems that may also be required in the East of Raglan to deal with overflows probably caused by the increased growth in housing.
How many staff have you got working to fix this latest problem and what is involved?
If there are only one or two employees, I would suggest WDC provide more staff to help check the wastewater pipeline and pump stations as many have been in use since the 1970’s and require maintenance and probably replacing.
Please keep us informed as to future steps to help avoid this happening again in the future.
heoi ano
Angeline Greensill
Environmental Spokesperson
Tainui Hapu
Whaingaroa
From: Martin Mould
Subject: RE: Wastewater Overflow rear of 78 Greenslade Road Raglan
Date: 20 August 2015 12:48:30 pm +1200
To: Angeline Greensill
Hi Angeline
Thanks for your email,
We have identified 280 Sewer manholes within 100 meters of waterways in Raglan and have prioritised Lorenzen bay/Greenslade Road area. The work involves lifting these manholes for a visual inspection, a CCTV inspection of critical assets or any others that fail the visual inspection. The Lorenzen bay/Greenslade Road area is expected to be complete by Friday afternoon with all of the visual inspection of 280 manholes complete by the end of next week.
This work will then be scheduled as an annual inspection. Any defects will be prioritised and addressed.
We currently have 5 staff plus CCTV contractor carrying out these inspections with other staff assisting as there workloads permit.
regards
Martin Mould
Waters Manager
Waikato District Council