New septic tank installed at Waipapa

UPDATE ON INFRASTRUCTURE REBUILD:

The new septic tank has been installed at Waipapa.

Trust chair, Cath Holland:

“One of the biggest challenges for rural marae like ours is not being connected to the town drainage and sewerage system as well as the local water supply.  So one of the priorities for this infrastructure rebuild has been installing a new septic tank and sewerage system for Waipapa and it went in this week,” Cath says.

While installation is a huge accomplishment for the future, discovering remnants from the past was unexpected.

“They also uncovered an old "demolished toilet block" in the southwest corner of the car park area.  The rubble was buried deep within the soil and not obvious until the site for the new Waste Water Treatment area was excavated.  This adds to the cost of the removal of rubble that was unforeseen.  We all know how much it costs to take rubbish to the dump.  This cost the budget more than $7K to uncover the old toilet block and dispose of it as well as get rid of the current system. 

Cath points out, the other issue for the trust has been with the existing roofing over the Taku Hiahia ablutions, a glitch the trust has inherited from the original build. 

"The main issue with the existing roofing is that fixings have been drilled through the roofing iron, but they have not connected with any roof structure (purlins - as they should have).  The photo shows penetration through the white roof underlay.  The result is that holes have been drilled and there is no way of ensuring that the fixings and the rubber washers are securely compressed against the roofing iron.  This compression of the rubber seal allows the holes in the iron to be sealed and weathertight."

Cath says the other issue is that the roofing iron was bordering on non-compliance with the overhangs into the spouting. 

"We inherited these flaws in the roofing and we had to address them now, so the roof is weather-resistant   The COVID lockdowns have also put us behind the 8 ball by more than 6 weeks, but we’re up to speed now as we approach the festive season,” Cath says.

In the meantime, the area for the new drainage system has been excavated and as we near the halfway mark for the new infrastructure rebuild, there’ll be much to celebrate at Waipapa as we countdown the days to our poukai in 2022.