Liz November 12th, 2008
It is hard to believe that Auckland City is reducing spending on critical infrastructure projects. Waste water infrastructure is a fundamental need of cities. Auckland is clearly not going to meet it’s ‘BIG CITY BASELINE’ in this area - which is critical to the health and well being of Aucklanders.
“One project sure to disappoint Aucklanders is an $86 million cut in
stormwater spending that will almost certainly result in waste overflows
continuing at St Heliers and other city beaches for years longer than
planned.”
link:
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article…cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10542482
Liz October 24th, 2008
I have a concern about the safety of both children and wildlife at the sewer outfall behind Haverstock Rd, Mt Albert.
On Tuesday 21 October we saw a young boy (under 10) climbing on the outfall in Kerr-Taylor Reserve which is next to a house. This is the place where the sewer overflows from 96 Haverstock Rd emerge, and the stream here can be highly polluted.
When we reached it there were two young boys climbing down. They were looking at the dead pukeko lying there, and a second pukeko attending to the dead one. The young boy broke a bottle and starting climbing down further with some broken glass in his hand. We told him the water was very dirty, and we said how sad it was the bird was dead. He came back up.
We waited while the bird walked away. We noticed its tail feathers were all removed or cut off. We contacted SPCA - who said they are unable to do much.
We are concerned about this and think we need to see if there is more required to prevent children from going into the sewer outfall. We contacted Metrowater who removed the dead bird. We also asked them whether clearer signs are needed.
Liz September 22nd, 2008
On 16 September 2008, we were advised by Judith Bassett, ARC Councillor that ARC has thoroughly discussed STEPS concerns about Meola Creek. These concerns were first raised with ARC when Judith and ARC officers were invited to present to us on 20 Sept 2007. They have been followed by a recent letter from the Eden Albert Community Board, (see previous blog post), and also concern from STEPS that ARC provided a non-notifed resource consent allowing Housing NZ to move the creek bed above Haverstock Rd - in advance of the hearings for ACC resource consents.
ARC will follow up the letter to Watercare asking about their priorities and management of the stream.
Auckland Regional Councillors have also advised council officers that:
- STEPS concern is not limited to sewage but to other contaminants as well.
-
They must determine where the stream should be and where the
“overland flow path” is meant to be.
-
They must also consider concerns about Meola Reef, (where Meola Creek discharges to the Witemata Harbour)
-
The most practical thing requested was a process of regular monitoring to establish a baseline as you asked us to do. Relying on complaints is no good.
- Once the baseline is established we can have a systematic monitoring process to try to find out what is really happening to the stream and whether Watercare can do more to mitigate
the adverse effects.
Tags: ARC
meolacreek May 13th, 2008
Auckland City Council
Media release
9 May 2008
A programme of works is to be developed to help mitigate the impacts of sewer overflows into Meola Creek. The City Development Committee heard that a long-term solution under consideration by Watercare, the installation of a new interceptor main, is not likely to be operational for about five to 10 years. In the meantime, the committee has asked the council, Metrowater and Watercare to move ahead with initiatives to minimise the problem.
Works would be aimed at:
- protecting the health and safety of the community as far as possible, with fencing, signage and public warnings
- raising the footpath along Meola Creek between the two overflow sites
- roofing over the Lyon Avenue overflow
- improved screens at overflows to reduce the quantity of clearly visual material
- diversion of some stormwater to ground soakage where practical
- improving the creek habitat.
A report to the committee noted that 80 per cent of the overflows came from Watercare sewers, with most from sewers at Lyon Avenue and Haverstock Road.
About 40 per cent of the Meola catchment is served by combined sewers. Currently, Metrowater is conducting sewer separation works in the Motions catchment and this will take nearly all Metrowater’s sewer separation budget for the next three years. Committee chairperson Councillor Peseta Sam Lotu-Iiga said that all the agencies were acutely aware of the unpleasant side effects of sewage overflows. “The trunk system was installed about 100 years ago and our population has simply outgrown its capacity,” he said. “The issue is not just to accommodate the existing need but to future proof the system for new growth and that is a hugely expensive and time consuming process.”
For further information, please contact:
Councillor Peseta Sam Lotu-Iiga, chairperson, City Development Committee
ph 927 209 7562
Email: cr.lotu-iiga@aucklandcity.govt.nz
Nick March 20th, 2008
New Zealand has lost approximately 95% of its wetlands to agriculture and urban expansion. Unfortunately, it’s taken us a while to realize the importance of these systems in terms of the biological and economic services they provide, e.g., flood attentuation, water filtration and purification, etc. It sobering to think that nearly all of St. Lukes and Sandringham was once a large wetland – in fact, Sandringham used to be known as Cabbage Tree Swamp. STEPS would like to recreate some of the past in our own backyard. We’re proposing to construct a small wetland in an area that is periodically fed by clean spring water. Our plan is to remove the weeds and plant the area with wetland species such as flax, sedges and raupo. As well as dramatically enhancing the visual amenity of the Kerr-Taylor Reserve, a wetland would provide excellent habitat and food resources for watefowl and terrestrial birds such as tui and silvereye. The designated area already has an impressive stand of young kahikatea and cabbage tree, and seeing their submerged trunks gives us an idea of what an intact swamp forest should look like (see Photos). The project is very much in the formative stages. For a start, we need to gain permission from Mt Albert Grammar, since the proposed wetland is on school land. A feasibility study also needs to be carried out. If we get the green light, then we’ll need to get funding for things such as engineering works and plants. We envisage the project being a partnership between STEPS, Mt Albert Grammar and the local community. We’ll keep you posted on progress. If you have any thoughts, comments or opinions, feel free to post them on the blog.
