Waitarere Beach

The Waitarere wastewater scheme was installed in 1985 & 1986. It consists primarily of 110 and 160mm dia. uPVC pipe. The system was installed because groundwater is the main source of drinking water at Waitarere (where there is no public reticulated water supply) and it was being contaminated by sewage effluent from septic tanks. The records for the reticulation being of recent construction are quite comprehensive and accurate.

The discharge is permitted by Water Right No. 102220 which expires on 27 June 2007. The conditions in this water right specify a maximum daily flow of 715 m3/day.

The operational parameters of the scheme are:

Population served: 636 (permanent, 1996 census)
Connections: 669

The key issues relating to the scheme are:

• The single-pump stations should be upgraded to provide backup capability.
• The environment is corrosive from salt in the air and there is higher than normal abrasion of pumps and sewerage from the amount of sand that enters the system.
• Seasonal variations in population numbers result in significant loading variations. To date this has not proved to be a problem.