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Wellington, the capital city of New Zealand, is witnessing a horrific environmental disaster after a massive sewage leak was reported, with repairs to the city's wastewater treatment plant expected to take months.
Following the flow of untreated sewage into the sea, residents have been advised not to enter the water, collect seafood or even walk their dogs on local beaches.
The shocking incident occurred after the lower floors of the Moa Point wastewater treatment plant flooded due to heavy rain on Wednesday, causing sewage to back up into the 1.8 km outfall pipe that normally discharges treated wastewater into Cook Strait.
As a result, untreated sewage began flowing through a shorter five-metre outfall pipe into the waters off Wellington's south coast.
Wellington Water chief executive Pat Dougherty said around 70 million litres of raw wastewater had leaked into surrounding waters, New Zealand's 1News reported.
While Dougherty failed to explain why the outfall pipe failed, Wellington mayor Andrew Little on Thursday described the leak as a "catastrophic failure".
In a Facebook update on Friday morning, February 6, Wellington Water said it had partially restored operation of the long outfall pipe and the screening system, which removes sanitary pads and wet wipes from wastewater.
