An unknown quantity of partially treated sewage has leaked into the Papawai Stream in Greytown.
Although Wellington Water crews have found the source of the leak and “have made great progress” in reducing the discharge, they were still working on a solution to stop it entirely.
The public were first alerted to the leak on Tuesday and the source of the leak was found on Friday.
It was coming from an old outlet structure at one of the final treatment ponds at the Greytown Wastewater Treatment Plant.
The wastewater had been treated at the council’s oxidation pond but some of it had not gone through the final stage of UV treatment before leaking into the stream.
The water services company asked people to follow signage and to not fish, swim in, drink from, or collect food along the Papawai Stream near the treatment plant.
A full investigation of the incident would be done.
In general, resource consents allow South Wairarapa District Council to discharge treated wastewater to the Papawai Stream at an annual average daily flow of up to 750,000 litres per day and at a maximum daily rate of up to 1.5 million litres per day.
LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air