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The occasional sight of raw sewage bubbling up from under the lid of a manhole in Elizabeth Street in Warkworth is set to continue for a while yet.
Watercare is promising that future work will reduce the wet weather overflows that routinely cause a small lake to appear outside the Bridgehouse, but not until 2025.
Elizabeth Street has an engineered overflow point below the road, which is designed to release heavily diluted wastewater if the pipes become overwhelmed with stormwater during heavy rain.
This happened again last month, though Watercare crew soon attended to flush the pipe and clean up the overflow.
A spokesperson says Watercare is regularly flushing the pipes to help prevent blockages caused by a build-up of fats and rags in the wastewater pipe.
“It’s a good opportunity to remind people not to pour fats and oils from their cooking down the drain, or flush anything except the three Ps – pee, poo and toilet paper,” a spokesperson said.
Watercare says the Warkworth growth servicing project will create two diversions upstream of the engineered overflow point, which will significantly reduce these wet weather overflows. The project is due to be finished in mid-2025.
In the meantime, the less fat, oils and wipes that go down the drain the better.
More information about what not to put down the drain can be found here: https://waterforlife.org.nz/what-not-to-flush
