Sludge trucking ends as first stage of Mt Albert repair successfully completed

The Team from Wellington Water

We are excited to announce that the first liner in the Mt Albert sludge pipes has been successfully tested and is now operational – which means we’ve been able to take bring the sludge trucks operation to an end.
There will be the odd truck passing through over the coming week or so as the sludge tanks at Moa Point are cleared, but the 24/7 operation is over.
We want to thank the impacted residents for your patience and resilience in putting up with the trucks traveling past your houses every day through what has been an extraordinary time – possibly made more trying by the restrictions of Covid-19 and the fact everyone was at home more than usual.

We also want to acknowledge the efforts of the truck drivers who have worked tirelessly to keep sludge out of Cook Strait. And we’d like to thank the council and community leaders who have ensured community interests were kept foremost throughout a particularly difficult time for the city.

The second Mt Albert pipe lining operation is under way. Once complete, in three weeks or so, this will restore full redundancy in the event of failure. If there’s an emergency before then, we may need to re-start the trucking operation. However, lining the full length of this critical Mt Albert section of the sludge pipe minimises the risk of the pipe failing again until a longer term solution for sludge management is developed.