Waste water from 300 homes in Auckland the Red Hills development gets trucked off-site to a pumping station. Video / Jason Oxenham
THREE KEY FACTS
Hundreds of new homes in West Auckland are having sewage trucked away because there is no permanent wastewater connection.
Residents are complaining about the smell, which is expected to get worse heading into summer.
The developer is taking Watercare to court, claiming the council’s water body agreed to have wastewater infrastructure built by 2020.
A big stink over trucking raw sewage away from a new housing development in West Auckland has gone to court.
The developers of Cardinal West at Red Hills are taking legal action over what they claim is a “binding agreement” by Watercare to provide permanent wastewater infrastructure by March 2020.
Watercare said it cannot comment on the situation because it is subject to a legal dispute.
Sewage from 300 new homes at Cardinal West on a former dairy farm near Westgate is going into four “tank farms” where tankers collect it and take it to the Massey North wastewater tank farm.
When the Herald visited Cardinal West last month, residents complained about the odour.
One of the four 'tank farms' at Cardinal West where wastewater is collected before being trucked to Massey North. Photo / Jason Oxenham
“It’s like Rotorua but a little bit more potent. It smells like poo,” said one woman, who rents a house with her partner and three children across the road from one of the tank farms.
Another resident described the situation as not so bad in winter but said summer would potentially be really bad with the heat and stench.
In a notice posted on the Cardinal West Facebook page this week, project co-ordinator Hugh Crawford said the developer entered into an agreement in 2018 where Watercare committed to endeavouring to have permanent wastewater infrastructure in place by March 31, 2020.
Watercare has said it is negotiating with landowners to build a pipe through their properties, and is hopeful Cardinal West will have permanent wastewater infrastructure by late 2025.
Crawford said the developer, Myland Partners, has tried to engage with Watercare over the permanent wastewater connection to the Cardinal West community and has only reluctantly resorted to legal proceedings.
Residents are putting up with smell from the tank farms at Cardinal West. Photo / Jason Oxenham
Watercare plans to stop trucking sewage from new housing developments, but not before three more developments at Warkworth and two beach settlements on the Manukau Harbour begin the practice.
It will start at Warkworth Ridge for 646 homes from October this year, followed by Kahawai Point for 800 coastal homes from August 2025, and the 50ha Clarks Beach Waterfront Estate from May 2026.
Bernard Orsman is an award-winning reporter who has been covering Auckland’s local politics and transport since 1998. Before that, he worked in the parliamentary press gallery for six years.
