Tūwharetoa Māori Trust Board lifts rāhui on Lake Taupō following wastewater spill

An estimated 800,000 litres of wastewater spilt into Lake Taupō on July 2. Photo / Helicopter Services

A rāhui imposed on parts of Lake Taupō and the Waikato River due to a wastewater spill last month has been lifted.

Tūwharetoa Māori Trust Board lifted the rāhui yesterday after being in place for six weeks following the collapse of a wastewater pipe that resulted in an estimated 800,000 litres of wastewater spilling into the lake on July 2.

The rāhui was imposed on July 5 to keep the community safe and to ensure the areas affected by the spill, Tapuaeharuru Bay and the Waikato Awa to Aratiatia, had an opportunity to rest and recover.

Board chief executive Topia Rameka said when the spill occurred, one of the first priorities was to put in place an environmental and cultural monitoring plan, driven by Tūwharetoa mātauranga, that would inform kaitiaki about the state of the moana and awa.

"Over these past six or so weeks, we have worked alongside our marae representatives to oversee the infrastructure remediation work.

"We have also been busy implementing our monitoring plan which pulls together cultural data, water sampling, sediment sampling from the shore and lakebed, and mahinga kai sampling," he said.

Rameka said following a thorough analysis of all the data, the board was pleased to report that Tapuaeharuru Bay had returned to normal.

"As a result, a karakia was undertaken yesterday and the rāhui over the bay has been lifted – kua whakawatea.

"The restriction over the immediate construction site remains in place until the final remediation work has been completed. At the outset, we were clear that our moana and awa are very resilient and in time would heal themselves.

"We are so pleased with this outcome and wish to acknowledge our marae and kaumātua for their leadership during this time."

Rameka said lifting of the rāhui did not signal the end of the board's work on the matter, rather efforts would now be focused on understanding why the incident occurred.

"This was a significant event for our community and it's important that we take the time to understand what took place in the lead up and take every measure to ensure it does not happen again."