Sewage spews into street
A section of Surrey St between Hillside Rd and South Rd was covered in excrement that flowed out of a manhole.
Surrey Street Flood Action Group convener Lynne Newell said elderly residents in the street were having to "pee in a bowl and poo into a bag" because their toilets were out of action from about 1am on Saturday.
The city council has said it took proactive measures ahead of the weather but Ms Newell said the situation got worse as the day proceeded and the rain continued to pour down.
Residents were unable to use their toilets because the sewerage system in the street was overloaded with sewage coming from the hill suburbs, she said.
"I was lucky that I've got a [non-return] valve so it doesn't come up and spew over my toilet bowl, but the thing is I still have to use a bucket to pee in and a bag to poo in — it's like a Third World country."
She said sewage water overflowed into properties and on to the street every time there was significant rainfall.
"The roads might not flood but the sewerage can't cope with what's happening."
The council had been telling her a solution was around the corner for the past 20 years, she said.
"I have bashed my head against a brick wall for ten months and nothing is getting promised or fixed."
The ODT saw human waste and menstrual products in the water on Saturday.
Ms Newell said her wastewater services began working again late Saturday night.
Speaking on Saturday, Dunedin Mayor Jules Radich said the residents' bathrooms would be usable again as soon as the rain eased.
He said it was incorrect to say nothing had been done to address the issue as non-return valves were installed to make sure residents' bathrooms were not back-filled with wastewater.
Funding had also been approved for wastewater upgrades in the council's nine-year plan and there were three pipe upgrades in South Dunedin that would provide improvements for Surrey St, he said.
A pipe that went through Caversham tunnel needed to be removed and its removal was funded and included in the nine-year plan.
Council chief executive Sandy Graham said overall, the network coped well with the weekend's rain.
There were some areas of "isolated ponding" and some manholes surging "slightly" but the council received no reports of wastewater discharging into properties, she said.
"Due to pressure on the network some toilets may have been unable to be flushed for a short period overnight, however they should still have been usable.
"During the rain event the mayor and staff were in regular contact with Ms Newell and we will follow up with her again to hear her suggestions for improvement.
"We took a proactive response to the rain event by providing sandbags, draining the network, ensuring contractors and staff were checking the network and responding promptly to any issues and communicating regularly."
Ms Graham said $44.2m had been set aside in the nine-year plan capital budget for further flood alleviation work in South Dunedin, which included "no regrets" improvements to be implemented quickly.
On Saturday, the council climate and city growth manager Scott MacLean said teams responded to isolated incidents and inspected the network for damage and flooding.
Temporary road closures were put in place and, with the exception of the Logan Park artificial turfs, all council grounds were closed to the public.
Coastal Dunedin bore the brunt of the weekend rain — about 25-50mm, with other parts of Otago getting 20-50mm, the Otago Regional Council said in a statement early on Saturday afternoon.
"Flood infrastructure is doing its job and performing as expected.
"There were no significant issues overnight."
mark.john@odt.co.nz
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Otago Daily Times
4 hours ago
- Otago Daily Times
Rolling out the Rainbow
Winter Pride volunteers David Dewhurst, Mary Horan, Mini Watson and Aaron Ravenwood in 2020. PHOTO: ODT FILES There'll be a lot more colour in Queenstown over the next 10 days. The resort is once again rolling out the rainbow to celebrate this year's Winter Pride, which officially kicks into gear today. Run for the second time by Sam Coulthard, about 5000 members of the Rainbow community are inbound to the Whakatipu — almost half of them coming from Australia. Forty separate events, both on and off the mountains, are scheduled between tomorrow and next Sunday, including a new initiative, the Winter Pride Wedding Expo which is being held at the Queenstown Memorial Centre next Friday afternoon. It'll showcase a selection of the resort's best wedding celebrants, caterers, florists and venues, all of whom support the LGBTQIA+ community. Coulthard, whose background is in events, says weddings are part of his "normal job", and he's aware there's a "real problem" in Australia and other parts of New Zealand to find Rainbow-friendly celebrants. Given Queenstown's already a top wedding location, he's hoping Winter Pride guests will be inspired to tie the knot here in future.
Otago Daily Times
06-08-2025
- Otago Daily Times
‘Particularly dry month' for much of South Island
Photo: ODT files Talk about a dry July. Earth Sciences New Zealand climate scientist Gregor Macara said high mean sea level pressure prevailed over much of the South Island during July, creating prolonged dry spells across much of Otago and Southland. Ranfurly had 26 days without rain (July 4-29); Clyde, Cromwell, Lauder, Middlemarch, Queenstown and Tapanui had 25 days (July 4-28); Oamaru had 18 days (July 12-29); and Alexandra and Dunedin had 17 days (July 12-28). And even when it did rain, very little fell, he said. "It was a particularly dry month for Southland, with five locations observing near-record low July rainfall totals. "This included Gore, where just 8mm of rain (14% of its July normal) was recorded. "This resulted in the town's second-driest July since records began in 1907. "Invercargill recorded 27mm of rain (37% of its July normal), making it the city's third-driest July since records began there in 1900." Lumsden (26mm) and Tiwai Point (22mm) also recorded their third-driest July, and Manapouri (21mm) had its fourth-lowest July rainfall. Temperatures were near average for most of the southern regions during July. However, new record mean air temperatures were recorded at Milford Sound (7.5°C), Puysegur Point (10.3°C) and South West Cape (10.1°C) and Nugget Point recorded its second-highest mean air temperature with 7.9°C during the month. From July 28-30, a warm northwesterly became established over the country, and dozens of locations observed record or near-record high daily maximum temperatures, he said. On July 28, the relatively high temperatures were centred over southern parts of New Zealand, with Milford Sound, Puysegur Point and South West Cape also setting record high daily maximum temperatures. "Milford Sound reached 19.3°C, exceeding its previous record of 17.6°C. "It was also notable that this temperature was recorded well after sunset — between 8pm and 9pm. "Daily maximum temperatures typically occur in the afternoon during daylight hours." Mr Macara said at the other end of the scale was Cromwell, where a persistent inversion layer and frequent low cloud contributed to daily maximum temperatures that were lower than average, and daily minimum temperatures that were higher than average. "Cromwell received 67 hours of sunshine for July (62% of normal), making it the lowest sunshine total for July since the town's records began in 1979." Mr Macara said the weather records were associated with more northeasterly winds than normal for the country. "Enso-neutral conditions remained present in the tropical Pacific, but trended towards La Nina-like conditions during the month. "Sea surface temperatures around New Zealand were above average, particularly off the west coast of the country, with marine heatwave conditions experienced in these areas." He said the mild start to winter for most of the country in June continued through July. "The nationwide average temperature in July was 9.2°C, making it New Zealand's fourth-warmest July since Earth Sciences New Zealand's seven-station temperature series began in 1909."
Otago Daily Times
31-07-2025
- Otago Daily Times
South D residents don't want ‘status quo'
Dunedin mayor Jules Radich. PHOTO: ODT FILES Clear signals have been sent about what South Dunedin people want for their future amid climate challenges, Dunedin Mayor Jules Radich says. "The No 1 thing they don't want is the status quo," he said. "The infrastructure we have got simply cannot cope with the amount of inundation that we are prone to getting — so we have to install more." Large-scale retreat because of climate change and flooding threats was also unpopular and another version of managed retreat — letting water in and relocating to raised land — was not well supported either. People wished to continue to live in South Dunedin, he said. If the least popular options were discounted, a mix of what remained — making space for water while keeping the "liveable, workable" land dry — was what they favoured. Immediate action to enhance drainage infrastructure was key, which was why the council approved an additional "pipes and pumps" package in its 2025-34 long-term plan, Mr Radich said. The mayor's comments came after a report from the South Dunedin Future programme about community engagement results relating to a hazard risk assessment and seven approaches for adaptation. The programme is run jointly with the Otago Regional Council and it is principally aimed at establishing a comprehensive long-term plan for adapting to climate change. Feedback about the potential approaches was received from more than 1200 people and organisations. An option described as "space for water" was the most preferred overall. There was "mixed support" for several other options. "This suggests an openness from community and stakeholders to different approaches for managing risk and adapting to the impacts of climate change," the report for councillors said. An initial shortlist of three approaches is expected to be available this month. The regional council discussed the South Dunedin Future report last week. City councillors had a wide-ranging discussion on Wednesday about the feedback, the property market, insurance, risk and climate adaptation. Cr Christine Garey said there was a strong public mandate for change. Cr Brent Weatherall said the full options for adaptation were "mainly cost-prohibitive" unless central government came on board, but this was "clearly not yet on the horizon". Cr Carmen Houlahan said hazard information appearing on Lim reports was causing significant concern for some property owners. Cr Lee Vandervis — the only city councillor who voted against noting the report — criticised "planning for its own sake".
