Public, independent investigation promised into Wellington sewage disaster
Thursday, 5 February 2026
Local Government Minister Simon Watts says he has requested “urgent advice” on the Moa Point wastewater failure “and what options I have as minister to address the issue”.
“What has happened in Wellington is shocking, and Wellingtonians deserves better. The situation underlines exactly why we need Local Water Done well and why we have moved quickly to implement it.”
Wellington mayor Andrew Little is also promising an independent investigation into the sewage catastrophe that has ruled out swimming on the south coast for months.
It comes after years of monthly non-compliance reports were recorded at Wellington’s Moa Point sewage plant.
At its peak on Wednesday morning, 3300 litres of water and sewage back-flooded into the Moa Point plant, inundating it and shutting down equipment before raw sewage was diverted down another short pipe.
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It was expected untreated sewage will be flowing to the south coast at the rate of 70 million litres a day for days.
Said Watts late on Thursday, “It is encouraging to see that Wellington City Council is considering the full suite of options available to it to provide transparency to communities about what has occurred and to inform how to prevent these situations in the future.”
But Wellington City councillor Jonny Osborne said he visited the plant on Thursday and Wellington Water was 'cautiously optimistic' of diverting sewage down the long outfall later on Thursday. The long outfall partially treats waste and sends it 1.8km into Cook Strait.
“This does not mean the shortfall pipe at Tarakena Bay will no longer be required but it should lessen the amount of untreated sewage being discharged out of it,“ Osborne posted after the visit
Little has labelled the situation “catastrophic” and said the immediate priority had to be stopping the flow of untreated wastewater, followed by remeditation of the damaged plant.
But he had already talked to the council chief executive, Matt Prosser, and Will Peet , the chairperson of Tiaki Wai which is taking over Wellington Water duties later in 2026, about setting up an independent investigation. He was awaiting advice.
“Council does not have the power to conduct a public inquiry with evidence given under oath,” he said. “The investigation to be conducted will be fully reported to the public.”
Wellington Water Committee chairperson Ros Connelly said the situation was the “chickens coming home too roost” after decades of underinvestment in waster infrastructure.
Wellington Water committee papers from December show serious and long-standing concerns were being raised about the Moa Point facility, which has been non-compliant every month except two since January 2024. Issues were noted in the two months it passed.
Of Wellington Water’s four Veolia-run plants – Moa Point, Porirua, Seaview and Western – it was the only one not to get a single perfect, green reading in that time.
Issues included unconsented discharges, non-compliance for odour and discharge as well as multiple “faecal coliform” issues.
Wellington Water on Thursday morning confirmed it would be days to get partially treated wastewater back down the longer, 1800m pipe which discharges wastewater further out to sea, meaning people could return to beaches. But it was expected to be months before people could safely return to the water in south coast beaches.
The December report shows Wellington Water had ongoing issues with the French-based multi-national running the plants.
“Over the past few years, we have seen ongoing compliance issues across the [Veolia] treatment plants and we have been on a joint journey with Veolia to improve the management and operations of the plants,” the meeting notes say.
Areas for improvement for Wellington Water and Veolia were identified in 2024.
“This year, as part of our approach to better contract management, we decided to have another look at the contract performance. Our aim was to test if we are on the right path and to identify other areas of improvement that could help bring the wastewater treatment plants back into compliance.”
Connelly said the focus now had to be containing the issue but the time would come when people needed to know who was too blame. But she did not know if a full public inquiry was worthwhile with Wellington Water soon to cease to exist anyway.
Meanwhile, on the other side of town, Wellington Water is warning of a partially treated wastewater discharge from the Western wastewater treatment plant.
“There has been a discharge of screened wastewater at Karori Stream, which flows into the sea on the South Coast, which will make the water appear cloudy or murky,” the warning says.
Veolia has been approached for comment.