NZPGS supplies equipment and staff for major sewer diversion

A clean-up of Taupō's lakeshore and Waikato River has begun this morning after 80 percent of the town's wastewater spilled into the lake over an hour and a half.

The water main on Lake Terrace burst just after 2.00pm yesterday, creating a washout which collapsed part of the footpath, and eventually took out the sewerage pipe. Contents from both pipes flowed into the lake, and into Waikato River. A council spokesperson said pumps have been brought in to divert the wastewater away from the area. A second water main broke on the other side of town at about 5.50pm on Marshall Avenue.

NZPGS were called to provide emergency response and support. Two large pumps were setup on the South end of the site, each with a capacity of over 300 litres per second. Approx. 300M of lay flat hose was connected to the pumps, and they were manned 24/7, ensuring that the flow of sewer bypassed the broken pipe that was being repaired.

While all this was happening, we still had the Stormwater bypass under way, that had a catchment area of 16Ha. There were an additional five pumps in total to manage the large flows of water during a rain event.

NZPGS were on site for approximately 40 days and managed to keep all liquids flowing in the right direction without spills or further incidents. All staff were housed in local accommodation and local contractors were used for transport and crane lifts for the pumps.

Approx. 190,000 litres spilt into Lake Taupo.

Washout of footpath into Lake Taupo.

Pumps being craned into position.

Pumps being craned into position.

300 metres of lay flat hose.

Sound Proofing caged pumps reducing noise for the local businesses.

Team working 24/7 keeping everything pumping and flowing in the right direction.