Buller River. Photo: RNZ / Nate McKinnon
Ahead of whitebait season opening on the West Coast, people are being warned not to fish in the Buller River, as partially treated wastewater is being discharged into the waterway.
Buller District Council infrastructure services group manager Anthony Blom said a mechanical breakdown was discovered at the Westport Wastewater Treatment Plant on Thursday.
The auger that moves sludge through the treatment process had broken and without it, the plant could not fully operate.
As a result, partially treated wastewater will be discharged to the Buller River on outgoing afternoon tides for the next three days.
The West Coast Regional Council had been notified and said the discharge is permitted under the RMA.
Blom said the repair work was expected to take about a week as the auger needed to be taken out, welded and reinforced.
It will impact the beginning of the whitebaiting season - which opens on Monday.
The council said members of the public should not enter or gather food in affected rivers and lagoons, including below the Buller Bridge, until next Wednesday.
It said there was a community communications plan in place to inform people of the discharges and to avoid contact with the water.
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