Auckland Council is to investigate the failure of a New Lynn culvert and the struggling Ardmore water treatment plant in the wake of the destructive March downpours.
Auckland Mayor Phil Goff said yesterday: ‘‘You’ve got to find out what’s happened. What’s caused it.
‘‘Could it have been prevented? Could it have been mitigated against?
‘‘We’ll be looking at the challenges of the dams in the Hunuas and the inability of the water filter station at Ardmore to be able to cope with that.
‘‘Our city deserves a water supply that can be relied on 100% of the time.’’
Auckland households face water restrictions until the end of the month despite hitting savings targets.
Aucklanders’ daily water consumption has dropped to 382 million litres, well within the necessary range of 400 million litres or less.
Mr Goff cited Auckland’s population growth of 45,000 a year, less ability to move from one source of unfiltered water to another, and more extreme weather events due to climate change, as adding strain to current infrastructure.
About $100 million has already been spent on storm-water infrastructure renewals over the past five years.
A weather bomb had never overwhelmed the current infrastructure before, Mr Goff said, ‘‘but because it’s happened now we have to think about ways we can improve the resilience of the system to cope’’.
Mr Goff spent some time yesterday inspecting the worst hit areas and last evening met affected families and business owners in New Lynn.
Auckland Council has put up 27 people in emergency accommodation after their properties were affected by floodwater.
Mr Goff said the New Lynn culvert in Gardner Ave had failed.
A grille that was used to cover it had collected debris which made it overflow.
Council officials assured Mr Goff that immediately before the deluge they had inspected the culvert and it was clear.
Residents in the New Lynn, Titirangi, Glen Eden and neighbouring areas were busy cleaning outtheir homes and garages yesterday following the floods over the weekend.
