Broken stormwater pipes mean leachate from a landfill which closed in 1971 often leaks into Wellington's Houghton Bay following high rainfall events. File photo. Photo: RNZ/Caitlin Cherry
Wellington City Council staff will look at what may fix broken storm water pipes leaking leachate from a closed landfill into Houghton Bay.
The Houghton Valley landfill opened in the 1950s and was shut in 1971, with the former site now being used as playing fields.
Running top to bottom roughly at the base of the landfill are stormwater pipes that flow through to Houghton Bay. The pipes are old and often leak leachate into the harbour following high rainfall events.
Wellington Water has assessed the pipes via CCTV and recommended relining the stormwater network to address the contamination issue, which would cost $7 million.
A 227-signature strong petition calling for a fix for the pipes to be put in the council's upcoming long-term plan (its 10-year budget) was presented at a council meeting on Thursday.
Creator of the petition Jenny Rattenbury told RNZ the signatories did not support the solution Wellington Water had suggested.
"The pipe - either intentionally or not - is designed to collect the leachate and then it gets diverted to the sewer, so if we put a sleeve in the pipe that will make a better stormwater system, but then there will be no leachate collection system."
Rattenbury said they wanted the landfill sealed off properly and the stormwater and spring water diverted from going beneath the tip - creating a natural stormwater system.
City council staff were already working on an assessment of the landfill that they were required to do following regulation changes that came into effect in July last year under the Natural Resources Plan.
Following the petition's presentation they have now been directed to determine if there is an ecological option more aligned to the petition that can be persued once the report is finished.
Rattenbury said they had been working on trying to fix the leachate problem for around 12 years.
At Thursday's meeting, councillor Sarah Free said that the issue had "been live" for at least a decade.
"I do think that 10 years or more after a marine reserve was created in this area to still have leachate that smells, that's discoloured and discharging into an area that we are trying to present as a showcase for an ecological area is a really poor look."
