Two pieces of timber blocking a wastewater pipe caused last week’s major sewage spill in Island Bay, Wellington Water’s Chris Fleck told RNZ.
Raw sewage flowed down Island Bay Parade on Friday, 5 June, and backed up into several properties during heavy rain, prompting outrage from residents who described the incident as “feral and disgusting”. A local daycare centre was also forced to close because of health concerns.
Speaking at a packed public meeting on Saturday, Fleck said investigations found two pieces of timber had created a blockage in the wastewater network.
“The main cause of the restriction in the network yesterday was two pieces of timber,” Fleck told RNZ. “Timber doesn’t get flushed down the toilets, someone has inadvertently put it in the network.”
Fleck said the blockage caused wastewater to back up through the system, forcing sewage into some properties and out of maintenance hole covers along Island Bay Parade.
However, some residents questioned how the timber entered the network.
Island Bay business owner Fran de Gregorio told RNZ that contractors had previously removed large pieces of wood from a drain outside her shop following major works on the parade in 2024.
“Long things, they were pulling out of the drains because they had left them in there and it was about to flood my shop,” she said.
De Gregorio also disputed reports that a sewage blockage at her mother’s property had been cleared by Saturday.
“I can assure you there were 11 Wellington Water men on her section last night, at 11 o’clock at night, and they could not clear the sewage system,” she told RNZ.
The public meeting had been called to discuss recovery efforts following April’s severe flooding and ongoing concerns about drainage infrastructure in the suburb.
Fleck told residents that Wellington’s stormwater network is designed to manage rainfall runoff but is not built to handle extreme weather events such as the one-in-100-year storm that hit the city in April.
He said some stormwater pipes date back to the late 1800s and early 1900s, while many others are between 60 and 90 years old.
Fleck also stressed that the city’s wastewater and stormwater networks are separate systems. His comments that Wellington Water regularly checks stormwater intakes were met with objections from some residents attending the meeting.
Wellington Mayor Andrew Little intervened during the discussion, asking residents to allow the presentation to continue before questions were taken.
Wellington Water crews worked late into Friday night responding to the spill and continuing efforts to clear the network.
Wellington Water has been approached for further comment on the cause of the blockage and the ongoing clean-up response.
Source: RNZ
