![]() "I've been a mum - my kids are all grown up - but I know how convenient wet wipes are." She acknowledged the idea wouldn't necessarily be a hit with everyone. That, to us, is not acceptable," Torea said. We don't like to mix wastewater or mortuary wastewater with where we get our kai. "Our cultural values are a little bit different. Tangata whenua have long voiced strong opposition to this practice, saying the discharge of sewage into the awa (river) is offensive to tikanga Māori. In addition to the financial cost, the blockages sometimes result in overflows of the wastewater system during storm events, which means the council must open the sewer valves and human waste is released into city rivers and the sea. Photo: Supplied / Gisborne District Council It follows a $15,000 spend clearing a fatberg made up largely of fat, wet wipes and rags at this location in June 2020 and a $100,000 spend two years earlier at the same location.Ī pipe in Gisborne being unblocked in August 2020. Staff are following up the incident with the parties involved. ![]() The council said it was caused by a "load of fat" tipped down the drain. The council spent about $4500 to clear a 400kg fatberg at this location on 16 August. These were found to be behind 93 percent of blockages in UK sewers.įatbergs form when fat, oil and grease are poured down sinks and drains and combine with items that should not be flushed down the toilet, like wet wipes.Ĭlearing fatbergs has cost Gisborne ratepayers hundreds of thousands of dollars, including a recurring fatberg where the sewer line dips down near Mobil Service Station on Wainui Road before it goes up and over the bridge. The United Kingdom government in 2018 announced a plan to eliminate plastic waste including "single-use products like wet wipes". "If you can ban plastic bags in certain countries and certain states, then I'm sure you would be able to ban wet wipes." "It would be a very quick solution if we were to look at just banning them altogether," Toroa said. Karena Toroa, who represents Ngāi Tāmanuhiri iwi on the Kiwa Group, said New Zealand had so far opted for an "educate the public" model to wean people off wet wipes, but this was slow. It has prompted the Kiwa Group, which provides cultural and technical advice to the council on water management, to seek a mandate to investigate a ban on wet wipes. Wet wipes do not break down after being flushed down the toilet and are a "huge" contributing factor to blockages in the city's sewer pipes, Gisborne District Council lifelines director David Wilson said. Karena Toroa, who represents Ngāi Tāmanuhiri iwi on the Kiwa Group, believes banning wet wipes could help solve Gisborne's fatberg issue.
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