Sewerage repair project stretches beyond year end?

Desludging Martinborough’s neglected and troublesome sewerage ponds _ filled with 50 years of human detritis and never cleaned out since it opened for poop _ is scheduled to commence, yes begin, in October 2024.

That’s more than 16 months after the system was closed to new connections, 50 years after it first began collecting town sewerage _ and a June 2023 “hopeful” council prediction it would be back on line by mid-2025.

“We hope to have the plant compliant (with all Greater Wellington Regional Council (GWRC) operating requirements) within 24 months,” Mayor Martin Connelly told The Star in June last year. 

Connections for new users went on hold mid-2023 after the plant failed to meet “performance and compliance standards,” a report from officials confirmed.

The Star earlier reported council saying it was honouring the “30” consented applications for new waste water system connections, but there was “no time-frame” for when new application approvals would resume. 

 Last month the council reported it had advised GWRC in “a status and update” against the nine tasks it had been instructed to complete _ including desludging ponds, inflow and quality monitoring, and UV investigation and implementation _ eight had been carried out. 

The one outstanding task, “related to undertaking an updated pond sludge survey and sampling investigation,” likely would be completed during March. 

Then, “a further update report will be prepared and submited (sic) to GWRC.”

“Next immediate milestones: commence influent sampling programme, implement mechanical solution to UV system improvements.” 

“The pond desludging activity is currently scheduled for October (after the colder winter months),” it noted.

As the 51-year-old plant has been pushed beyond its capacity limits (by population growth and annual connections which “far exceeded expectations,” the multi-million dollar repair and upgrade is mandatory for the council to regain formal operating consent. 

For that reason, Wellington Water and SWDC “are urgently working on a delivery plan to bring the plant back to full compliance as soon as possible,” the report noted.

That plan will include expanding the plant’s capacity _ and after the recent fiasco, should also involve putting together a desludging maintenance programme that doesn’t ignore the ponds for another half century.

(Desludging: The process of removing sediments by draining and cleaning a tank or pond. yourdictionary.com) 

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