The Gisborne District Council is urgently clearing sewer pipes in the suburb of Mangapapa, after blockages caused by garden waste being dumped into manholes.
The council posted to its social media page on Monday evening saying it’s had to open an emergency sewer valve on Oak Street, into the Taruheru River at 5pm, due to the sewer pipe backing up.
The post hit out at whoever was responsible for the act.
“For goodness sake, please take your greenwaste to the transfer station or hire a wheelie bin – don’t dump it down a manhole or chuck it down a riverbank even,” it said.
It said the pipe was blocked with garden waste, and caused wastewater to back up and manholes to start popping – coming at a time when the network has just recently dealt with heavy rain.
The council is asking residents to avoid fishing or swimming, or gathering shellfish in the river and beaches, until the emergency sewer valve is closed after the blockages are removed.
Council spokesperson Dave Hadfield said it’s especially disappointing that this has happened at a time that water users like Waka Ama are training for the national competitions.
Hadfield said it’s frustrating that people are deliberately disposing of greenwaste irresponsibly.
“It’s actually a deliberate act to cut, you know a size of a manhole is quite small, but to deliberately cut branches to that size so you could fit it in is a deliberate action, that’s what we’re so disappointed about.”
While an initial blockage was cleared on Monday evening, Hadfield believed there could be multiple blockages in up to 500 metres of sewer pipe in the Mangapapa area.
Contractors will be putting cameras into the pipes on Tuesday morning to locate them.
It could be difficult to find the people responsible as there were many manholes on private property in the area affected, Hadfield said.
rnz.co.nz
