Encouraging tests, but Wellington’s south coast beaches remain closed
Monday, 9 February 2026
Early water sampling around Wellington’s south coast has delivered mostly encouraging results, but public health officials are keeping beaches closed, saying the risk remains too high as screened but untreated wastewater continues to be discharged into Cook Strait.
As Mayor Andrew Little intends to raise the Moa Point sewage plant failure with Prime Minister Christopher Luxon on Monday, a local environmental advocate has called for any inquiry into the catastrophe to be both independent and open to the public.
It is still not known how or why the plant’s 1.8-kilometre long outfall pipe backed up mid-last week after a bout of heavy rain, causing wastewater to flood the lower floor of the plant, and meaning 70 million litres of raw sewage a day was discharged out of a short outfall pipe about 5 metres off the south coast.
On Sunday authorities continued to strongly advise people to avoid Wellington’s south coast beaches until further notice. A rāhui remains in place from Ōwhiro Bay to Breaker Bay.
Read More:
Veolia’s failures flagged for years before Wellington sewage spill
Wellington sewage spill: Is it me, or does something stink here?
After Wellington Water brought its long outfall pipe partially back online late last week, it was now using it to discharge screened wastewater into Cook Strait again.
This means solid items like wipes and sanitary products have been removed, however, the wastewater has not gone through biological or ultraviolet treatment. It is not known when treatment will restart.
No wastewater has been discharged through the short outfall pipe since 9pm on Thursday, February 5. But Wellington Water warned that could change at short notice if there was increased flow to the plant.
Specialist personnel continued cleaning out biological material from clarifiers and affected rooms at the plant on Sunday.
Early this week the authority expects to begin a controlled entry to evaluate the extent of damage, test equipment, and determine what needs to be repaired or replaced. On Sunday it was flushing fresh water through treatment areas to reduce levels of hazardous hydrogen sulphide.
Equipment was being used to reduce odours.
“We thank the Wellington community for their support and understanding. This is a complex and changeable situation and we appreciate that it creates a lot of uncertainty and concern for our natural environment, which we share,” the authority said in a statement on Sunday evening.
It was continuing daily testing at various sites, and had sent people to do regular shoreline clean-ups.
Water samples taken across the south coast between 9am and 1pm on Friday, February 6, only released on Sunday, showed very high levels of bacteria around the Moa Point short outfall pipe, however other areas including at Island Bay, Lyall Bay and Breaker Bay showed relatively low levels.
Medical Officer of Health Dr Craig Thornley said a number of factors needed to be considered before the National Public Health Service withdrew its directive to avoid south coast beaches.
“This may take some time,” Thornley said. “The test results are only one component in assessing the overall public health risk. A range of other information and assessments by a panel of experts are also included in the decision-making process.”
South coast resident Eugene Doyle ‒ who was on a mayoral Three Waters taskforce and a multi-party working group on water for two years ‒ said the plant’s failure represented the latest chapter in a series of problems with Wellington’s water infrastructure.
Any inquiry should be independent, robust and open to the public in the name of democracy, Doyle said.
The failure was “yet another reason” why Wellingtonians had lost faith in the management of their city’s water assets, he added. “We want to support our councils. We want to support our water company. But we expect far higher standards, both in performance and of accountability.”
Despite the beach’s closure, one of the organisers of the Island Bay Festival, Robert Appierdo, said it was wonderful to see so many festival-goers having fun on Sunday under a scorching sun, even though this year’s boat blessing could not go ahead, and food trucks had to be moved away from The Esplanade.
“We would ideally not like to have a repeat of what happened this year,” Appierdo said. “Across the south coast, there is a sense of mourning for not being able to use the beaches or be in the water at this time of the year. But the festival has given an opportunity for people to enjoy the coast in a different way.”
MetService has forecast fine weather for this week for Wellington, with temperatures due to reach 23C on Thursday.
Check the Land, Air, Water Aotearoa website for information on affected areas.