6pm
Water supply
Waitākere
We have identified a leak on our Waitākere raw watermain, which supplies water from Waitākere Dam to the Waitākere Water Treatment Plant. There is still enough water to supply the plant. We have had resources flown in by helicopter to access the site and work has been progressing well, we hope to have it fixed this evening. The plant, however, has been offline today due to turbidity (dirtiness). This will hopefully be resolved on Friday 17 February.
Wellsford
Access to site was established on Wednesday 15 February after slips and flooding caused access/safety issues. The recommissioning work went well today, and the plant is back online (Thursday 16 February). We are in the process of refilling the reservoir over the next 24-48 hours. The site is still experiencing communication issues, however, we are doing our best to manage this. Customers living in the area have water and they are encouraged to use it wisely.
Wastewater network
- We are working through known wastewater network failures that have arisen due to landslides during the floods. There are approximately 15 sites where wastewater is being discharged directly to the environment through broken pipes, the majority of which are on the North Shore and one in West Auckland. Some of these sites are complex, so we are working with the impacted customers on potential solutions.
- The Castor Bay wastewater issue impacting 70-80 properties has had a temporary solution installed yesterday (Wednesday 15 February).
- The Belmont Branch Sewer has a temporary repair due for completion by Friday 17 February.
11am
Water supply
- Tap water remains safe to drink.
- The quality of the water in our dams and rivers has been affected by the January storm and Cyclone Gabrielle. The level of turbidity (dirtiness) has risen due to landslides. This is limiting the volume of water we can treat. To date, customer demand has been below our production limit. With fine weather on its way, it is likely that demand will rise.
Muriwai
The site was assessed Wednesday 15 February, under Fire and Emergency New Zealand escort. Our infrastructure has been impacted, the major issue is that the plant is directly in front of the major landslide that occurred, so it is not safe to be on-site. The water treatment plant is offline and the water storage reservoir is now empty. A tanker is now providing emergency water and is located at Sand Dunz Cafe. Customers will need to bring containers to transport the water.
We are scoping medium-term solutions to restore supply to the area. We may install a water tank and pump to feed the network. This tank will be topped up using tankers. The interim solution may take a couple of weeks to stand up. Until then, our only option is to have tankers supplying emergency water.
Wellsford
Access to site was established on Wednesday 15 February after slips and flooding caused access/safety issues. The plant continues to be offline but recommissioning work is in progress today. In the meantime, there is water in the reservoir and tankers on standby to top it up, if required. This means customers living in the area have water. They are encouraged to use it wisely.
Wastewater network
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Our wastewater treatment plants are being closely monitored and are stable.
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Our wastewater networks have mostly recovered from the cyclone. We are now fixing issues remaining from the January storm and we are proactively inspecting assets.
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Our pro-active survey of customers in areas that were severely impacted by the recent weather events to uncover issues that we are not aware of continues.
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We have put temporary overland pumping in place at the site of a broken wastewater pipe in Belmont. We hope to fix the pipe next week if we can organise access with private property owners.
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We have identified a break in a public wastewater pipe in Castor Bay that serves 70 to 80 properties. Crews continue to assess the damage and complete a repair.