January 26, 2017
$1b plan to clean city beaches
Auckland mayor Phil Goff says it’s time to do something to keep sewage from overflowing into the city’s harbours.
Mana whenua have long complained about the effects of pollution on beaches and kaimoana, with a claim about the Okahu Bay foreshore being the first ever considered by the Waitangi Tribunal.
Mr Goff says when the sewerage system was put in a century ago, stormwater and wastewater were put into the same pipes, creating overflows after heavy rains through more than 100 points along the coasts.
"What we are doing predominantly is putting in a 14 kilometre 4.5 metre wide new pipe called the central intercepter. That will massively increase the capacity and it will cut the wastewater overflows onto our beaches by about 80 percent," he says.
Mr Goff says the billion dollar project could start next year and be finished by 2026.
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