Work set to start on Ōpōtiki Sewerage Upgrade Project
Opotiki District Council (ODC) is about to begin upgrading and/or renewing sewerage reticulation in Opotiki.
When there is a lot of wet weather there have been problems with the system being infiltrated, as the amount of rain water is too much for the sewers to cope with. This means residents can lose service and there is a higher cost to move, treat and dispose of the extra water.
In 2016 Council trialled fixing and replacing obvious and major defects in the sewers in an area north of Kelly Street and monitoring the effect on flow. The work on private property (excluding making good' any illegal connections of stormwater to the sewer) was funded by ODC.
Due to the success of that work (with wet weather inflows being greatly reduced resulting in Ratepayer savings due to reduced operating and maintenance costs) it was resolved to extend the work to the rest of the town. The budget for this has been spread over three years, with around 350 properties to be addressed each year.
Council expects most of the obvious defects will be fixed during the project. Homeowners with illegal connections will need to fix these at their own cost and only private residences are covered, so commercial lots need to upgrade their own infrastructure.
Ōpōtiki Drainlayers Ltd were the successful tenderers for the work and they will be carrying out 350 property inspections in low lying areas of Ōpōtiki Township between January and August 2018.
All property owners in this years selected work area should have been sent an information pack in December 2017 and should have returned a signed consent form to allow the contractor to complete this work on their property. Landlords should have also advised their tenants to expect contractors to contact them and arrange a suitable time to inspect their properties Sewerage pipes. If you have not returned your signed form, please do so as soon as possible so you can be included in this free inspection and possible upgrade. If you have lost your consent form or have any questions please contact Marty Schutz at Ōpōtiki District Council on 07 3153030 or visit our Customer Service Desk at 108 St John Street, Opotiki.
