The Government has announced an independent review into Wellington Water’s Moa Point sewage plant failure.

Local Government Minister Simon Watts said a Crown Review Team made up of senior figures from the water services sector will be appointed to both Wellington City Council and Wellington Water.

It comes as raw, untreated sewage continues to pour into the Cook Strait off Wellington’s South Coast after the Moa Point Wastewater Treatment Plant flooded and became inoperable earlier this month.

“The failure of a key part of our capital city’s critical wastewater infrastructure and the ensuing impact on communities, the local economy and the environment are completely unacceptable,” Watts said in a statement this afternoon.

“After discussions with Wellington Mayor Andrew Little we have agreed an independent and transparent investigation is required to determine the causes of this failure,” he said.

“The public is owed the assurance that we understand what led to this failure and that we are taking steps to prevent it from happening again.”

The review would seek to find out what led to the failure, and recommend steps to prevent it from happening again.

Watts said the investigatory team would comprise “independent senior water services sector figures with relevant technical engineering, governance, commercial and legal expertise”.

Simon Watts says the Moa Point plant failings are completely unacceptable. Photo / Mark Mitchell

It is not yet clear how long the review may take, or how much it will cost, although Watts said “we need timely findings and recommendations,” given the assets and operations will transfer to new water entity Tiaki Wai Ltd from July.

The capital’s South Coast beaches are currently off limits, and are expected to remain so for months as the plant is fixed.

So far, the public have not been told what could have led to the failure, with officials tight-lipped on what is known.

Wellington Water chief executive Pat Dougherty revealed last week he held concerns the organisation had missed early warning signs there were troubles at the plant, but subsequently.

“Over the last three or four months, I think there’s been a couple of incidents that I suspect may have been early warning signs that we missed,” Dougherty said.

Following that interview, Dougherty would not be interviewed or provide a comment on what those warning signs may have been.

He will speak tonight at a public meeting hosted by local Wellington MPs Julie Anne Genter and Tamatha Paul at St Patrick’s College in Kilbirnie.

Ethan Manera is a Wellington-based journalist covering Wellington issues, local politics and business in the capital. He can be emailed at ethan.manera@nzme.co.nz.