Poo trucks all night, then repairs all day, after sewage pipe bursts

Wellington.Scoop
The council-owned Wellington Water company worked all day today to repair the sewage pipe that burst in Victoria Street in the CBD last night.

Traffic was down to a single lane for part of the street till the work was completed in the late afternoon.

Wellington Water said this morning that the burst had caused “a minor overflow.” But last night a spokesperson confirmed that sewage had spilled into the harbour. Signs warning of the pollution risk have been placed on the waterfront. Water quality testing will be undertaken from today.

Residents in the area told Scoop they had a sleepless night after the sewage pipe burst, because of the non-stop noise of poo trucks that were needed to stop the broken pipe overflowing.

The trucks, which have been an ugly and smelly feature of the south coast for weeks, were seen and heard in Victoria Street for more than 18 hours.

News from Wellington Water
Good progress has been made to repair a wastewater pipe in Victoria Street in the Wellington CBD, after it burst last night. The pipe is being excavated and the point of the burst has been found. It is a 300mm, cast iron pipe, that records show was installed in 1961. We are planning to replace two six-metre sections of pipe with new, concrete-lined steel, which is a more resilient material. All going well we hope to complete the repair today, with full reinstatement completed tomorrow.

Normal wastewater flows have been managed by the use of sucker trucks transferring wastewater from the nearby pumping station to a point further along the wastewater network, and by diverting flow into another wastewater pipe in Wakefield Street.

Wellington.Scoop – May 28
Victoria Street in central Wellington was closed tonight because of a burst sewerage pipe outside the Central Police Station.

Police asked the public to avoid the area, and said anyone seeking to visit the Police Station should instead call 105, or in an emergency, 111.

RNZ quoted Wellington Water spokesman Alex van Paassen as saying sewage overflowed into the harbour for a short time after the pipe burst before 6pm.

It was not yet known how big the spill was. Sucker trucks were on site to manage the flow of sewage.

Repairs will begin tomorrow morning, but it was unclear what the scale of the job would be.

No one was without flushing toilets, he said.

The Wellington City Council, quoted by the DomPost, said warning signs would be set up, telling people to stay away from the Frank Kitts Park Lagoon and the inner harbour.

Earlier: water mains burst in Porirua, Johnsonville, Ngaio, Broadmeadows, and Karaka Bay