Media Advisory: Waikato District Council, 18 August 2014
Council says blockage in wastewater system likely cause of Raglan wastewater overflow
Waikato District Council says a blockage in the wastewater system is the likely cause of a wastewater overflow in Raglan last weekend.
Staff have prepared a report for Waikato Regional Council (Click here to read the Wainui Raod Sewage Spill Report) in relation to the overflow from a wastewater pump station on Wainui Road on Sunday. The report lists a number of changes to the monitoring system and its management that will reduce the likelihood of failures like this one.
- The report indicates that an estimated 18 cubic metres of untreated wastewater was discharged during a 19 hour period with a lesser volume likely reaching the estuary.
- An incident summary states that at 9.26am on Sunday 10 August, a resident noticed the overflow from a pump station manhole and called Council. On arrival, Council staff discovered the pump had stopped as the pipes out of the station were partially blocked, and required several resets to clear the blockage and restore pump levels back to normal settings.
- The report notes that blockages in the wastewater network and pumping station are a regular occurrence caused by inappropriate items being placed down toilets and drains.
- Unfortunately this incident coincided with an upgrade of the pump station which meant only one pump was in operation at the time. Normal operation would have resulted in the second pump starting following the failure of the first. This may have prevented the overflow depending on the exact nature of the blockage
- An alarm was raised when the pump stopped working and the high level switch was activated, however this alarm wasn’t received by on-duty staff due to a data entry issue. This issue has been addressed.
- Staff are continuing to monitor estuary quality levels and would advise the community not to collect seafood or fish in the area until further notice.
In response to the incident, Council will meet this week to pass a recommendation which will fast track the current upgrade of the district’s SCADA network.
An interesting angle on this here – http://safe2speakhamilton.wordpress.com/2014/08/15/hartys-ipooh/
Yes very interesting. When the judge imposed the fine he made it very clear, “Hamilton District Court Judge David Kirkpatrick noted that errors committed by district council staff were ‘of a systemic nature, revealing poor training, supervision and ultimate management‘.” To me ‘ultimate management’ means the CEO and the GM. So far the Mayor and councillors of Waikato District Council has taken no action in regard to fixing ‘ultimate management’.