‘It’s all toilet paper and poo’
Auckland woman complains to Housing NZ after sewage leak spreads waste matter
An Auckland woman is up in arms over a sewage leak that left toilet paper and waste strewn over the backyard of her daughter’s Housing New Zealand home.
Christine Mckean said the mess started flowing on to her daughter’s property in the South Auckland suburb of Wattle Downs on Saturday morning.
The sewage overflow is believed to have been caused by a blockage Watch a video at nzherald.co.nz at her property in Siska Place.
It followed health risk alerts being issued for several beaches across Auckland at the weekend due to overflows caused by heavy rain.
Sewage water, toilet paper and faecal matter was seeping on to the family's backyard and down to the estuary at the back of the property.
“It’s all toilet paper, poo, all of that,” Mckean said.
Mckean, who did not live at the property but frequently visited, said her daughter had called Housing New Zealand to complain “four or five times” since the leak occurred.
Her daughter had five children and she was worried the overflow posed a health hazard to her family.
While the water from the overflow had receded, waste matter remained, drying around the lawn yesterday.
“My babies are going to be getting sick, next thing you know.”
Mckean said her daughter, Patricia Angell, had struggled with the smell.
“Like a sewage pond,” she said. “It gets a little bit stronger when the wind is up.”
A Housing New Zealand spokesman confirmed contractors had been at the property on two separate occasions over the weekend after complaints were laid.
“The drain was unblocked and lime put down to help take care of any potential health matters,” he said.
“Our contractors will be back on site [today] to carry out further investigations, including using CCTV cameras and to see if any further remediation is needed.”
The spokesman said the overflow had not had any effect on any other properties on the street.
Upon hearing about the incident yesterday, Watercare deployed workers to the property.
“Watercare has now arranged for a clean-up crew to attend the Siska Place property this evening to thoroughly cleanse and disinfect the area,” she said.
Workers had responded to a call on Saturday about a sewage overflow at neighbouring street Volante Ave, she said, which was quickly cleared.