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Speaker 1: Now here's something you absolutely do not need. At the

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Speaker 1: height of summer. People are being worn to stay out

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Speaker 1: of the water in Wellington, and this is because raw

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Speaker 1: sewage is seeping into the ocean. After a problem at

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Speaker 1: the city's treatment facility near the airport, the plant was

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Speaker 1: evacuated this morning after multiple floors were inundated with untreated wastewater.

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Speaker 1: Wellington Water Chief Executive Pat Doherty joins us Now, high Pat, Hi,

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Speaker 1: what happened?

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Speaker 2: Oh, just like you said, with that heavy rain last night,

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Speaker 2: we had about half the flow going through the plant,

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Speaker 2: half going around a bypass, and then they combined to

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Speaker 2: go out the outfall pipe and it backed up and

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Speaker 2: came out into the plant onto our work site. And

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Speaker 2: we don't know why. It should have had more than

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Speaker 2: enough capacity to cope with it. I suspect there's something

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Speaker 2: wrong with the outfall pipe that we'll have to check.

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Speaker 1: A blockage or something.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, partial blockage. We'll have to get a TV camera

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Speaker 2: down there to have a look. But the real problem

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Speaker 2: is is the damage the water has done. This huge

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Speaker 2: amounts of wastewater poured through the plant. We've got control

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Speaker 2: panels underwater, we've got electrical equipment underwater or has been underwater,

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Speaker 2: and we have no power because the first thing that

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Speaker 2: happened was all the fuses tripped out. So we've at

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Speaker 2: the moment got we've diverted the discharge untreated wastewater into

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Speaker 2: a short outfall which is only four or five meters

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Speaker 2: off the coast at Tarakina Bay, and so the first

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Speaker 2: thing we need we're trying to do is get the

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Speaker 2: discharge back into the long outfall, which is one point

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Speaker 2: eight killometers off the coast and screen it. We think

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Speaker 2: we can do that in a few days and then

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Speaker 2: get sludge out of our tanks before it turns ana aerobic.

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Speaker 2: We don't want odor problems as well. And then we've

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Speaker 2: got to get the wastewater out of the plant, and

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Speaker 2: it's so deep. We've got a scrubber room that's the

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Speaker 2: size and Olympic swimming pool and it's three meters deep

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Speaker 2: down there, so it's a lot of water we've got

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Speaker 2: to get out, and there's no power, so there's no ventilation,

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Speaker 2: which means that our guys have to be careful of

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Speaker 2: they're working in a confined space and we're the right

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Speaker 2: breathing equipment, so there's a lot to do. It's a

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Speaker 2: bad situation.

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Speaker 1: So what is what is the time frame that you're

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Speaker 1: working with here? But like, how long is it going

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Speaker 1: to take you to fix this all up so you're

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Speaker 1: not pumping poo into the sea.

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Speaker 2: So we think in a few days we will be

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Speaker 2: able to start using the long out for and screen

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Speaker 2: the sewerage, which will make a big difference.

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Speaker 1: To screen the sewerage.

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Speaker 2: Basically we take anything that any big bits out.

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Speaker 1: It's still po isn't it. I mean you're just you're

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Speaker 1: just taking it to one po out, aren't you.

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Speaker 2: Yeah? And that takes us back to where Wellington was

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Speaker 2: forty years ago, which is far from desirable.

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Speaker 1: Okay, And then how long before you So that's cool,

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Speaker 1: I mean that's an I understand the situation. What can

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Speaker 1: you do? But then how long before you actually get

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Speaker 1: this this this plant up and running and there's no

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Speaker 1: more poo going into the sea.

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Speaker 2: Well until we get the waste water out and have

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Speaker 2: a look at our equipment and see how how badly

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Speaker 2: damaged it is. We won't know, but some of the

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Speaker 2: stuff is not available in New Zealand. It would have

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Speaker 2: to probably be important. We think it'll be months.

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Speaker 1: Months, months, does that mean that Does that mean that

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Speaker 1: that that people shouldn't be swimming around lyle By and

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Speaker 1: surfing around live By potentially for months?

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Speaker 2: Uh? Yes, yeah, even once we once we start using

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Speaker 2: the Long out For, water quality will be better. But

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Speaker 2: then it'll be But at the moment, we're saying stay

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Speaker 2: away from the water completely, don't don't walk along the beach,

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Speaker 2: don't let your dogs swim. Once we get it to

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Speaker 2: the long out For, I think things will ease off

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Speaker 2: a little bit. But we certainly wouldn't be recommending swimming

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Speaker 2: or fishing or shell fishing or anything like that, not

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Speaker 2: until we get this plant back to full capacity again.

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Speaker 1: Now, look, it seems like a bit of a design fault.

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Speaker 1: If the thing, if if your thing fails and then

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Speaker 1: you flood your own system.

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Speaker 2: Look, we intend to do a full review to see

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Speaker 2: what went wrong here and did we miss any warning

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Speaker 2: signs and is there anything else we could have done better?

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Speaker 2: But if that outfall has got something in it, then

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Speaker 2: maybe we should have inspected more regularly. But yeah, there

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Speaker 2: certainly should be an overflow point that's outside of the building,

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Speaker 2: not inside the building.

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Speaker 1: Yes, okay, Lord Pat, Honestly, I'll bet you wish you

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Speaker 1: didn't take this job on some days.

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Speaker 2: It crosses my mind from time to day.

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Speaker 1: Good luck with everything, but appreciate it. Pat Doherty, Wellington

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Speaker 1: Water Chief Executive. Well there goes the last reason to

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Speaker 1: leave Wellington. I mean, look, Lyle Bay. Being able to go,

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Speaker 1: being able to grab your surfboard and head down for

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Speaker 1: a gentle little paddle of a day was like the

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Speaker 1: last reason you want to live there. Now there's no jobs,

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Speaker 1: just full of politicians and poe as it turns out,

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Speaker 1: So you're hi, am I to Auckland, all you Wellingtonians

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Speaker 1: if you want to, or various other parts of the

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Speaker 1: country that they're all awesome.

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Speaker 2: For more from Hither Duplessy Allen Drive. Listen live to

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Speaker 2: news talks.

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Speaker 1: It'd be from four pm weekdays, or follow the podcast

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Speaker 1: on iHeartRadio