Council proactively confirming cause of Waipukurau Wastewater overflow

Central Hawke’s Bay District Council are working closely alongside the Hawke’s Bay District Health Board and Hawke’s Bay Regional Council to manage the impacts of an overflow of wastewater at the Waipukurau Wastewater Treatment Plant which occurred, after an electrical fault caused key plant systems to fail yesterday afternoon.
 
An electrical fault resulted in the main pumping plant that pumps Waipukurau’s sewerage from a receiving ‘wet well’ to the plants main oxidation pond failing.  The electrical fault also resulted in the electrical back-up systems and alarms that would normally trigger a response in the event of power loss also failing, resulting in an overflow that released wastewater into the Pah Flat Drain.
 
Once identified, Council and Regional Council teams responded quickly to repair the issue and assess the effects to the waterway, with Central Hawke’s Bay District Council proactively working to understand the cause of the faults.
 
“We are disappointed that the back-up systems we can normally rely on failed us in this instance”, says Chief Executive Monique Davidson.  “We take any impact on our local environment seriously, and are proactively seeking to understand why our back-up systems have failed in this instance’. 
 
Water samples from the Tukituki River were collected and sent for analysis, with results due in the coming days. Following Public Health advice as a precautionary measure people should refrain from entering the Tukituki river in the direct vicinity of the Waipukurau Wastewater Treatment Plant from the Mt Herbert Rd access downstream to the Tapairu Rd access below the swing-bridge.

1 March 2022

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