A long-awaited $450 million wastewater treatment plant at Snells Beach has finally opened, but for oyster farmer Tom Walters, the milestone has come far too late.
Walters, who has spent 20 years building Matakana Oysters, says years of sewage spills into the Mahurangi River have left his livelihood and his community on the brink.
“Initial thoughts are fantastic to see it open. It is a great feat of engineering. And people involved should be proud of it,” Walters told 1News.
“Just a pity that it didn't come a few years back when it was supposed to. And instead, we've had rampant sewage overflows for the last five years.
"As growth has spiralled out of control. And the environment and our livelihoods have been the canary in the mines, so to speak, as a result of it. It's just been terrible.”
‘I don’t know how we can make it’
Walters says the delays have left farmers in despair after an entire season was effectively wiped out.
“We didn't harvest an oyster for 152 days. We had to go elsewhere to find them, pay for them, and go all the way up north to go grab them."
He said the amounts offered by authorities were "not even enough to cover my rent here from the months spent not being able to harvest my own oysters".
“I don't know how we can make it. And honestly, with all the debt that has mounted up from not being able to pay all sorts of things. And that's not just this year. That's like two or three years on top of it. It was just so bad this year.”
Asked if his farm would survive, Walters said: “It's a really good question. I'd like to survive. I say that there is not much chance of us surviving if we get whopper sewage spills continuing.”
A step forward, but not the end
Watercare chief executive Jamie Sinclair said the new facility is a “significant milestone” for the region.
“This is a very significant milestone, and we're really proud of the work that's been done here. It is part of the wider Warkworth wastewater servicing scheme so it will allow for… growth for this region into the future and improve the environmental outcomes too."
Sinclair acknowledged the hardship facing farmers but would not commit to compensation.
“Yeah, look, we've been engaging with the oyster farmers, and we do feel for the situation they're in,” he said.
Asked if Watercare would pay compensation, Sinclair replied: “Oh look we haven't, we've provided some support to them through mental health grants and also through some facilities through Aquaculture NZ, we'll continue talking to Aquaculture NZ around what else we can do to support them as we go through this next period.”
Local developers say the long wait for infrastructure has also slowed housing projects meant to ease Auckland’s growth pressures. Peter Cooney, who has been working on major subdivisions in Warkworth, said it was a long time coming.
“Warkworth has always been destined to be a satellite city of Auckland. And it's always been on the radar. So for it to take so long to get a wastewater plant or this sort of infrastructure is a bit frustrating, but at least we've finally got it there.”
He said uncertainty over capacity, however, left him no choice but to invest in a separate on-site plant rather than connect to Watercare’s system.
“We have roughly 1500 lots which we're going to develop, but we're going to do our own wastewater plant because the cost of connecting to that plant and paying the fees that they want is a lot more expensive than us doing our own on-site wastewater plant. Which is a shame because I mean you know, Watercare miss out on 1500 lots, but it's just the cost of us connecting is just too expensive for us.”
Cooney said what developers need most is certainty.
“We need clarity… but we haven’t had it. It's cost us a lot of time and money.”
Auckland mayor Wayne Brown said the new plant is a “very good” facility that locals should be pleased about.
“I'm glad to see it's done properly because this is a great piece of coastline to look after,” he said.
The new facility will service 18,000 people in the fast-growing Warkworth and Mahurangi region and finally allow new homes, built but empty, to be lived in.
But overflows are expected to continue until the main pipelines through town are fixed – something Watercare says won’t be completed until 2027.
Walters says until then, he and others will keep suffering.
"Not until the end of next year, when the bigger pipe, apparently, at Elizabeth St, where we have the overflow problem, will be put in. Until that's done, then we won't be getting any more ... We still will be getting sewage spills. So no, it hasn't fixed our problem.”
“It’s fantastic that that treatment plant's up and running. Until every little element and component of that project is done, it's still not done, and we will still have this problem."
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