Sewage tipped down drains triggers no-swim warnings for Wellington Harbour

Monday, 21 February 2022

Greater Wellington Regional Council officers are investigating the tipping of raw sewage into stormwater pipes around Parliament.

Warnings have been issued for parts of Wellington Harbour as officials investigate the tipping of raw sewage into stormwater drains in the anti-mandate occupation area.

Land Air Water Aotearoa is warning people not to carry out recreational activities or fish near the Taranaki St dive platform or around Wellington Waterfront’s Shed 6 as waste continues to discharge into the western side of Te Whanganui-a-Tara.

The source of the sewage has been identified as coming from the stormwater system around Parliament where hundreds of people have been camped out for two weeks, protesting against vaccine mandates and Covid-19 restrictions.

Protesters are occupying Parliament’s lawn, and sections of Molesworth St, Lambton Quay and Bunny St. Portaloos have been onsite since the beginning of the protest.

Police walk in formation up Bowen St after barricades were set up to contain the protest.

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Greater Wellington Regional Council’s environmental protection team are investigating.

Taranaki Whānui has spoken out against those putting sewage down the drains, calling it “desecration”.

Port Nicholson Block Settlement Trust chairman Kara Puketapu-Dentice said, “we have a sacred role as kaitiaki (guardians) of our ancestral lands at Pipitea Pā as well as our moana (ocean), and this behaviour is both culturally offensive and a public health risk”.

Porirua-based Ngāti Toa also expressed is disgust. Chief executive Helmut Modlik highlighted in a statement the risk to the environment and to public health, calling the dumping “paru” (dirty).

The criticism come on a day when the police reported protesters throwing human waste over officers.

In a statement the police said deliberately infecting someone with disease was a serious offence punishable by 14 years of imprisonment, and attempting to do so attracted a significant penalty.

Police would be investigating and would hold to account those identified as responsible.