Burst Wellington pipe pre-dating women’s suffrage likely sets new age record
Monday, 26 August 2024
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Wellington Water scrambled to update its data over the weekend after a burst pipe, running beneath a 1905 statue and new council parklets, set a new record pre-dating women’s suffrage.
The 1890 cast iron water pipe – installed when the capital’s population was 33,224 – may be one of the oldest drinking water pipes, but records show an in-use waste water pipe beneath the Basin Reserve cricket ground was installed in 1840, the year of the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi.
It took more than two days last week for Wellington Water to confirm the mains water pipe that ruptured between Kent and Cambridge terraces in central Wellington on Wednesday was a cast iron pipe laid in 1890 – three years before New Zealand women won the right to vote. It was concrete-lined in 1963, the year the Beach Boys released Surfin’ USA.
The pipe had an extended life span of about 100 years, which should have been extended by the concrete lining, an email from Wellington Water said.
“Until this leak, our records show the pipe has not needed any repairs or experienced any faults.
“This has meant that this pipe had not been identified for investigation or renewal.”
It was now prioritised for renewal.
Wellington’s ageing pipes in the the late 2019s and early 2020s have gone from being largely forgotten to unforgettable as they rupture, explode and otherwise fail with abandon. Decades of underinvestment by successive councils has been blamed.
Wellington Water could not say before deadline whether replacement, following Wednesday’s burst, would mean digging up and replacing the entire stretch between Kent and Cambridge terraces. But the water utility’s own data shows the 1890 stretch of pipe starts immediately north of the Basin Reserve and runs down the median strip between Kent and Cambridge terraces.
It runs beneath new parklets installed as the council recently put in a new cycleway, a boulevard of old tress, and right beneath a 1905 statue of Queen Victoria, which has council heritage protection.
A short section of the pipe was replaced in 1994 and detours around the Greek-New Zealand memorial near the Vivian St intersection.
By Saturday, Wellington Water’s data showed much of the Courtenay Place to Basin Reserve pipe was installed in 1963. But, by Sunday, it had been updated to 1890.
Wellington Water was asked to confirm it had updated its records over the weekend and whether the 1890 date set a new historic record for an in-use mains Wellington water pipe. It did not respond by deadline.
It has previously said some pipes were more than 100 years old and in 2023 told the NZ Herald some pipes were 120 years old.
The last time an 1890s pipe made the news was in 2019 when a 1930s Willis St wastewater pipe collapsed and and an 1890 one had to be temporarily recommissioned to carry the city’s waste.
Meanwhile, Wellington Water data shows the section of mains water pipe beneath the Basin Reserve, running just northwest of the hallowed cricket pitch, was replaced in 1979.
But two storm water pipes, still in-use according to Wellington Water, run just east of the pitch and date from 1894 – the same year primary school education became compulsory for Māori children – and 1900, the year New Zealand Premier Richard Seddon set up a Royal Commission to fight a move to make New Zealand a state of Australia.
But the oldest in-use pipe beneath the Basin Reserve runs along the western verge of the outfield. It is a waste water pipe installed in 1840, the year of the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi.
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