Cleanup in sight for polluted beach

Effluent discharge from failed septic tanks has polluted the main beach at Kawakawa Bay. Photo / Kenny Rodger

Work on a $29 million system to clean a polluted beach in Auckland will begin next month.

Manukau Water yesterday said that a wastewater collection and treatment plant would be built in Kawakawa Bay, south of Auckland.

The region has a problem with wastewater pollution - caused by effluent discharge from failing septic tanks - which led to its main beach being polluted.

Manukau Water chief executive Raveen Jaduram says the treatment plant, to be built by 2011, will benefit the people of Kawakawa Bay and the area itself for years to come.

Environmental and public health issues were a big factor in having the treatment plant built.

"We are going in there and spending this money to save the environment," Mr Jaduram said.

"Yes, the people will benefit from this, but we are doing this to save the environment."

"Cleaning up the beach and the bay will ensure that this beautiful environment is an amenity that is available for generations to come."

The plant, to be built by Fulton Hogan, will be in the Kawakawa Bay forest.

It will have installed collection systems which will be vacuum-pumped.e

Construction of the wastewater treatment plant was put on hold after resource consents could not be obtained in time.

At a presentation in Manukau City, Mr Jaduram showed pictures of the Beachlands-Maraetai Wastewater Treatment Plant, which cost around $9 million and was opened last year.

Manukau City Mayor Len Brown, who was also at the announcement, said he was proud to know that the plant was going ahead and being initiated by Manukau Water.

"The community out there has been living in no-man's land and been affected by a lot of things, such as the slips," Mr Brown said.

Residents of Kawakawa Bay, near Clevedon, were cut off from the main city after a landslide blocked the main access road into Auckland.

Residents had to go to the bottom of of the landslide, trudge up to the top, and take a second vehicle on the other side of the hill into work.

"This community has gone through some hardships. [The plant] is a good news story for Kawakawa Bay," Mr Brown said.

Manukau Water chairman James Hill said it was pleasing that the company's financial security meant it could help resolve a "very long-standing" environmental problem in Kawakawa Bay.