Hot Water Beach toilets cause a stink

By AINSLEY THOMSON

Beachside public toilets at Hot Water Beach are causing a stink at the usually pristine holiday spot.

Locals at the popular Coromandel Peninsula beach say that for the past two weeks the stench from the toilets' septic tank has been unbearable.

One shop in town reported a steady stream of holidaymakers asking to use its toilet rather than face the public block.

The toilets' drainage system, upgraded in time for summer, failed to cope with the influx of summer visitors, and a pump broke on December 29.

Simon Buchanan, owner of Moko Gallery across the road from the block, said raw sewage and toilet paper flow into the carpark around the toilets.

But while the Thames-Coromandel District Council said the pump was replaced the next day, locals say they are still suffering.

Gordon Pye's beachfront house is located 50m from the toilets. "It's shocking, really appalling, the stench coming off them.

"It even gets into the kitchen where we have our meals."

Mr Pye, who has lived at the beach for the past 75 years, said the issue would be raised at a ratepayers meeting on Saturday.

Two hundred metres down the road, ratepayers association secretary Trevor Knight, owner of a Hot Water Beach bed and breakfast, said the wind carried the smell to his house.

Picnic tables next to the toilet block were left unused.

"The smell is certainly still there," Mr Knight said. "It's really strong. I certainly wouldn't want to have a picnic there, put it that way."

Council spokeswoman Robyn Sherson said she had been told the smell was more of a "slight whiff".

Regardless of the smell, tourists were not put off the beach, she said. "You couldn't fit an ant on the beach at the moment."