The Manukau Harbour is a taonga of Auckland, a vital ecological and cultural asset with huge potential for eco-tourism and recreational use.
Yet the Manukau has long been abused as a dumping ground for Auckland’s waste, from landfill reclamations to industrial waste discharges.
Currently and inappropriately, our Council uses the Manukau for the discharge of Auckland’s treated wastewater effluent. The shallow and predominantly closed nature of the harbour inhibits the natural flushing of contaminants, resulting in prolonged exposure to pollutants. It is time for this practice to cease, and the mana of the Manukau Harbour be restored.
For a start we want Auckland Council to acknowledge the significant harm caused to the Manukau Harbour and its tributaries by the discharge of treated and partially treated wastewater.
The Māngere Treatment Plant is the largest freshwater tributary to the Manukau Harbour. Its discharges, and other treatment plant discharges, are severely damaging to this predominantly closed salt water environment. Soon this damage will increase due to higher volumes of treated effluent expected once the Central Interceptor (CI), comes online.
Our petition is urging the Government to change the legislation to direct Auckland Council and Watercare to take the necessary steps to ensure Manukau Harbour is free of waste water discharges.
Even when treated, wastewater pollution endangers marine life and encourages invasive weeds to smother the sea bed. This pollution leads to eutrophication and habitat degradation, causing significant harm to marine life and ecosystem health.
Discharges have resulted in our beaches being closed due to levels of E-coli and other bacteria reaching unhealthy levels for humans to swim in. Contaminated water in the Manukau Harbour presents serious risks to public health.
The value of this harbour is diminished due to the negative perceptions caused by continued wastewater pollution.
Consents to discharge wastewater into the Manukau have in the past been set with long durations and automatically renewed. We believe it’s time that existing and future discharge consents be limited and alternative solutions need to be put in place so that future discharges to the Manukau Harbour and its tributaries cease to be needed.
Action on this is needed now by way of legislative change that enforces the desired outcomes on Auckland Council and its Council Controlled Organisation Watercare, or any other such organisation in the future.
By updating the legislation the Government can direct and support Auckland Council and Watercare to:
- plan for future methods of discharge management so that discharge consents into the Manukau Harbour and its tributaries cease to be needed once current consents lapse.
- restrict renewed discharge consents from permitting discharges into the Manukau Harbour and its tributaries after a period of 10 years from the date this condition is ratified (allowing Auckland Council and Watercare adequate time to devise and implement alternative solutions).
- disallow granting of new discharge consents into the Manukau Harbour and its tributaries (excluding renewal consents as conditioned under 1.b).
- disallow redirection of discharges to other consented outflows into the Manukau Harbour and its tributaries.
- identify and remove all indirect sewage discharge points into the Manukau Harbour and its tributaries, such as those by weir diversion from combined rain and sewer pipes, within 15 years from the date this condition is ratified.
Auckland Council and Watercare need to list options for replacement of discharges into the Manukau Harbour, along with conditions associated with these options (including full public consultation before adoption). Suggested options include:
- A direct pipeline to discharge into the Tasman Sea at a distance from the foreshore that prevents discharged water from returning to the beaches along the West Coast, and of a quality of discharge that meets defined standards for discharges into the sea (to be defined).
- Irrigation of farmland (must apply only to land that is away from watercourses that enter the Manukau Harbour and its tributaries).
- Reticulation through industrial grey water uses and back for retreatment, such as to be used for industrial processes at Glenbrook Steel Mill.
- Piped to reservoirs such as the Waitakere or Hunua Reservoirs for reprocessing into Auckland’s water supply.
- Purified to a standard acceptable for drinking water and reused as part of Auckland’s water supply
- Processed through a man made wetland development in line with the City of Arcata, Arcata Marsh Wildlife Sanctuary, with appropriate management and monitoring plans in place.
- Other options that need to be approved.
Let’s work towards a future where it is safe for families to swim in the Manukau harbour.
Please sign our petition and protect the Manukau Harbour for future generations!
Support for this petition
This petition is raised on behalf of the following organisation and undersigned signatories
- The Manukau Harbour Restoration Society (MHRS)
- Weymouth Residents and Ratepayers Association
- Stop Polluting the Manukau Harbour Incorporated (SPTMH)
- The Onehunga Enhancement Society (TOES)
- Aotea Sea Scout Group
- Clarks Beach and Waiau Pa Residents Association
- Te Ākitai Waiohua Waka Taua Incorporated
The intent of the petition is also supported by Te Kawerau ā Maki, iwi of the northern Manukau.
