Sewage risk at beaches, residents mad

First it was oil on beaches in the bay of plenty but now it is sewage on New Plymouth beaches "Oh, How we dont like sewage in our beaches" complains a resident and Dribble NZ News invesigates... 

New Plymouth City, the home to around 100,000 people will pour into the sea half of New Plymouth's sewage because of work about to start for the districts Waste Water Treatment Plant. 

The New Plymouth council is warning all New Plymouth residents and visitors that there will be a high risk of illness and skin irritation from swimming in New Plymouth beaches including popular beaches such as Fitzroy Beach, Ngamotu Beach and Back Beach. 

One of the plant's two aeration basins would be taken out of service from next Monday so it could be emptied of 20 years' accumulated silt and upgraded, NPDC water and wastes manager Mark Hall said.

Hall said that only half of New Plymouth's sewage will be treated at the waste water treatment plant during a four month period that the work will take to complete.

The rest will be screened to remove "material" larger than 3 millimetres, disinfected, then piped out to sea through the Waiwhakaiho outfall, near the popular Fitzroy and Bell Block beaches.

"We encourage people to take a precautionary approach to swimming or eating shellfish from this area."

We asked why the project had to be undertaken in the height of summer, Mr Hall said there was no choice. Once the first aeration basin was cleaned out and upgraded, after a short period testing the results, the same thing would have to be done to the second basin.

"So we decided, at some stage we had to bite the bullet and do it," he said. "But summer is also the best time to do this sort of work, because summer low water flows mean there will be the least amount of effluent going into the sea."

The average sewage flow into the wastewater treatment plant is 400 litres a second, but when it is wet, that can increase considerably because of stormwater.

The shutdown is likely to be smelly as solid material at the bottom of the aeration basin is dug up and removed.

"There is 20 years of accumulation in those basins.

"Whether there is any odour will depend on the weather conditions and air temperature, how long the job takes, and the amount of material we have to remove. We apologise in advance if there is any odour," he said.

Mr Hall said when the aeration basin emptied, it would have its concrete structure modified, and have pipework and 2500 diffusers installed.

RESIDENTS ANGRY

It isn't just you that is thinking "what the ****" to this though New Plymouth residents are ready to put up a fight, Dribble NZ News spoke to a resident of New Plymouth near a popular beach Fitzroy Beach and she said "It is disgusting to know that my children swim in that water atleast once or twice in a week and the council is dumping sewage, the thing that is wrong is that it is half of New Plymouth's sewage" 

Many residents said the same things over and over to New Plymouth and it has caused outrage, a resident living near Back Beach said "My child is going on a beach trip in a few days, If it was any later I would have cancelled her going".

The New Plymouth Council admits and warns residents and visitors that over Summer you should be 'very careful' when you swim.

"The water is pottentially dangerous and the council shouldnt have to warn us they should fix it, this is rubbish!"   a Bell Block home owner said. 

OIL or SEWAGE

We spoke to a few residents and asked one simple question, 'Would you rather have oil on your beaches or sewage over summer?'  and here is their replys...

"I really dont know, It was such a tradgedy when the oil hit the beaches in the Bay but then sewage doesnt just effect wildlife it effects peoples health, so I couldnt really awnser that. I am pushing more towards having oil, then sewage but id rather none!" says Mark Timbalatheine 

"I would rather have oil on our beaches because oil yes it does effect wildlife but sewage can effect all sorts of things, including humans and that is the main harm here" says Annonamous resident from Bell Block

"They are both not good for beaches, they should never happen. I mean yes sewage goes into New Plymouth water anyway but this time its untreated, I would say they are about the same." says a Merrilands, New Plymouth resident. 

so there you go, we also asked another question in a poll and this is the results...

'Are you going to swim in New Plymouth beaches this summer?' 

: Ofcourse I would do anything to swim | Around 20%

: Nope, it isnt safe enough                       | Around 50%

: I am not bothered                                    | Around 30%

THE FACTS

The New Plymouth District Council is warning all visitors to New Plymouth and all residents of New Plymouth to be cautious of beaches over summer due to half of New Plymouth's sewage is to be dumped in New Plymouth waters without being treated. 

"Do not swim in the water" a New Plymouth resident says

Residents are angry that this has only just happened and its dangerous to wild life and human health. 

We asked residents if they would rather have oil or sewage, it was hard but most residents said that they are both bad the same ammount and 50% of a survey says they will not swim in New Plymouth waters because it isnt safe enough.