Wastewater spill at Acacia Bay

There has been a wastewater overflow into the lake at Acacia Bay this morning.

An unknown quantity of material entered the lake at the stormwater outlet off Wily Terrace, after contractors failed to restart the pump following routine checks yesterday.

Signage has been erected warning people not to swim in the bay. They will remain in place until water sampling results indicate safe levels suitable for recreational swimming. Tests will be taken 200 metres each side of the spill on a daily basis. The first results will indicate the extent of the spill and will be available tomorrow morning.

Chief executive Gareth Green said it was an unfortunate and unacceptable situation and a debrief would be held with the contractors to ensure appropriate measures were put in place to stop any future incidents.

"We are incredibly upset that human error has caused an environmental issue like this," he said.

"We acknowledge that human error does happen from time-to-time however, as the lake's water quality is one of the most important parts of our business, we will be doing what we can to make sure it doesn't happen again."

9 January 2018

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Lisa NairneCommunications manager 07 376 0762 027 839 8410