Blenheim sewer capacity ‘as full as anticipated’ following rain
Blenheim and Seddon’s sewer capacity is “as full as anticipated” as heavy rain continues to hit the Marlborough region.
Marlborough District Council operations and maintenance engineer Stephen Rooney said they were starting to receive some calls from people whose toilet bowls were filling up when they flushed.
“But that's nothing to be too concerned about,” Rooney said.
“What we've asked people to do is the old tale if it’s yellow let it mellow, if it's brown flush it down.”
Just two weeks ago, residents were told not to flush their toilets due to the sewer overflowing, but Rooney said it was not quite as “significant” this time around.
He said the council was working on strategies to overcome the issue, and had managed to alleviate some overflow in the last couple of weeks.
“There's some capital upgrade work that's almost complete, that gives us the ability to have what we call a managed overflow,” he said.
“In this instance it's a new pump station that will take the liquid from the sewer, put it through a screen and UV treatment, and then while the river's high, we will be able to have a quantity of that part being pumped to the river.”
He said the rainfall on Tuesday morning had come through “as forecast” and was about two thirds of what it was two weeks ago.
MetService had forecast a heavy rain watch warning to stay in place until midday on Tuesday. The “period of heavy easterly rain” was expected to hit the Kaikōura coast the hardest.
Marlborough road closures
- State Highway 1 between Riverlands and Seddon
- Jacksons, Fairhall and Omaka Fords on Old Renwick Rd, closed from Burnside Avenue through to Renwick
- SH63 closed to Anglesea St traffic diverted through Renwick
- Port Underwood Rd about 500 metres before Karaka Point, slip blocking road
- Slips on Northbank Rd, Anakiwa Rd
- Flooding on Hammerichs Rd in Waihopai Valley and SH63 intersection, St Leonards Rd, Brookby Rd, Brancott Rd
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