A main Auckland sewer line has collapsed, causing a massive sinkhole to open up, with wastewater overflow pouring into the harbour and closing the city’s beaches.
Video / Desley Simpson
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Local iwi Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei have placed a rāhui across the Waitematā Harbour after a 13-metre sinkhole appeared in Parnell that allowed raw wastewater to flow directly into the harbour.
A main Auckland sewer line collapsed yesterday, causing a massive tomo (sinkhole) to open up, with wastewater overflow pouring into the harbour and closing the city’s beaches.
The 13-metre-deep hole descends to a 2.1m-wide collapsed brick pipe below a private property on St Georges Bay Rd in Parnell that serves Central Auckland and West Auckland and could take months to repair.
Once the hole is filled and the banks are stabilised, repair work will be facilitated and take some weeks, and the longer-term outcomes will take months, a Watercare worker said.
This morning, Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei, with the support of the Taumata Kaumātua, conducted a ceremony across the Waitematā to address the environmental impacts of the unprecedented deluge of waste caused by a blocked Ōrākei main sewer that’s causing overflows into the Waitematā. The ceremony included the placement of a rāhui.
A rāhui is a cultural and formal placement of restrictions upon a place for reasons of safety or preservation.
A rāhui has been placed on the Waitematā Harbour.
“Due to the contamination of the waters of the Waitematā and surrounding creeks, the rāhui placed by Ngāti Whātua supports that there be no swimming, fishing, paddling, diving or entering water. Transport across the Waitematā is allowed.
“Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei has placed a rāhui to ensure that the mauri, or life force, of the Waitematā, can recover and we are saddened and angered by the sewage overflows contaminating the Waitematā. This incident retraumatises our iwi, who were at the receiving end of the city’s sewer scheme at Ōkahu Bay for 50 years.”
The Waitematā harbour spans Takaparawhau, over to Maungauika and towards the northwest to the upper Waitematā.
“We Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei, tangata whenua of central Tāmaki Makaurau, pride ourselves as kaitiaki [guardians] over our whenua [land] Te Kahu Tōpuni o Tuperiri and over our moana [ocean] te Waitematā. We take the responsibility as kaitiaki seriously and will do our utmost best to ensure the protection and preservation of our tūtohu whenua and taiao [environment]. This includes making our communities and wider city aware that entering the Waitematā is not safe right now physically or spiritually,” Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei deputy chair Ngarimu Blair said.
“The rāhui will be lifted in consultation with Watercare in due course, and when we are satisfied it is safe for all to once again engage with our waters.”
It is the third sinkhole in the city in three months after a section of road caved in on College Hill in Freemans Bay, and another opened up on Princes St, Ōtāhuhu.
Joseph Los’e joined NZME in 2022 as Kaupapa Māori Editor. Los’e was a chief reporter, news director at the Sunday News newspaper covering crime, justice and sport. He was also editor of the NZ Truth and prior to joining NZME worked for 12 years for Te Whānau o Waipareira.
