Wellington Mayor Andrew Little. Photo: RNZ / Mark Papalii
Some mayors in the Wellington region have weighed in on the Moa Point sewage plant failure and who should pay for it.
The facility started pumping raw sewage into the ocean off the south coast after it completely failed early Wednesday morning last week.
On the following Thursday evening, the raw sewage was diverted from being dumped near the coast to a 1.8km outfall pipe.
Wellington Water had warned it may need to use the short outfall pipe if it were to rain in the city.
Mayor Andrew Little said the Moa Point plant was a Wellington City Council asset, and it would deal with who pays once the plan to get the plant back online was in place.
In the meantime, the council would foot the bill.
"If there's been a breach of obligations, a breach of duties, then that - to me - has to be sorted out between the parties. In the meantime, the critical thing is to get the [plant] recovered, fixed and back operating. The Wellington City Council will no doubt underwrite that cost.
"We want to know what went wrong, where the responsibility lies and if we can recover any costs, then obviously we want to do that."
Porirua Mayor Anita Baker said councils were waiting to see what an independent inquiry into the meltdown revealed - and who should pay - to repair the plant.
Porirua Mayor Anita Baker. Photo: SUPPLIED
Baker supported Wellington Water and said the failure could have happened to almost any plant in the region. She said the problems at Moa Point reflected nearly 50 years of councils declining to invest in water infrastructure.
Upper Hutt Mayor Peri Zee supported calls for an independent inquiry into the facility's failings.
"We absolutely need to see accountability and in principle costs apportioned by who is at fault."
South Wairarapa Mayor Fran Wilde said there was no reason her district should help pay to repair Moa Point. Wilde said her council had stopped Wellington Water from running its assets, and the two would part ways in June.
She said capital works had already been delivered more swiftly and at lower cost without Wellington Water.
Lower Hutt mayor Ken Laban said it would be premature to comment on any potential impact on Lower Hutt ratepayers, and he had no information on the potential cost of repairs.
The Moa Point plant failure was a "serious issue" but it was to early to detemine whether that was systemic, beyond the specific circumstances of the facility, he said.
"The appropriate next steps are for relevant inquiries and reviews to proceed, after which councils will be better placed to consider whether any changes or actions are required."
Laban pointed out that Hutt Valley councils faced "considerable costs" with upgrading of the wastewater treatment plant at Seaview.
He said councils were working through myriad issues as they prepared for Tiaki Wai to take over from Wellington Water on 1 July.
"While there are meetings and discussions still to come before that date, earlier information to our council is that at least in the first year or two under Tiaki Wai - potentially longer - 'a cost to serve' principle would apply."
That meant ratepayers in each area would cover costs of debt servicing and network upgrading for their district, Laban said.
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