Wastewater network improvement starting in Kaiwaka

February’s extreme weather events have impacted roads across Kaipara. Our roading network has suffered significant long-lasting damage, and many issues will not be a simple fix. If you must travel, please allow extra time, drive with care, and be considerate.  

In the leadup to the reopening of the eastern Brynderwyns detour route (Kaiwaka/Mangawhai/Waipu), authorities have confirmed that restrictions will again apply to truck and trailer units.

Contractors working on the Lang’s Beach bridge on Cove Road have encountered further challenges, delaying the reopening of the bridge until Wednesday morning.

I am not sure anyone would have believed me had I said we would have to contend with another extreme weather event during the on-going aftermath of Cyclone Gabrielle.

Everyone has now left the overnight accommodation centres at Campbell Park Christian Camp, Moir Point Christian Camp and the community-led centre at St John's Hall in Kaiwaka.

UPDATED: 2.18PM Thursday 02 March 2023

Kaipara District continues to respond to the impacts of Cyclone Gabrielle.

After February's extreme weather events, you or someone you know, may be feeling upset, exhausted, overwhelmed or uncertain. You don’t have to manage this on your own, there are free resources available to support you during this time.

Yesterday I was able to witness first hand some of the hard work that has been happening across the district to recover from Cyclone Gabrielle.

This article with be updated as information on Kaipara's roading network is available. 

Salt services, a professional dive team, spent most of a day early last week pulling an old car wreck out of the water. The car had been submerged some years ago and was resting where work was starting on the wharf head.

Our team worked hard throughout December, preparing our roads for the expected influx of summer traffic. 

Improvements to the Poutō Point carpark area can progress in 2023 thanks to further funding from Kaipara District Council.

On the final stretch of 2022, the team have been pushing hard to complete outstanding work before the end of the year. Work continues on both the unsealed and sealed networks in anticipation of the summer rush and the expected increase in traffic. 

Look after your loo and Kaipara's wastewater network this summer by reminding your household members and visitors what not to flush.

Kaipara’s population is expected to explode during the summer break, with people enjoying the district’s beaches, lakes, and vibrant communities. 

The construction of Poutō wharf has really been trucking along recently, with another dozen piles driven in the ground last week.

Summer holidays are fast approaching! During this time critical Council services continue, with some changes due to staff availability.

Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency is encouraging people in Dargaville to get on their bikes with a Transport Choice programme grant of approximately $8,000,000 to be provided to Kaipara District Council, announced on 4 December 2022.

Sea, sand, and Aotearoa New Zealand’s rarest bird were all on hand for the opening of Kaipara’s newest loos.

With the continued improvements in weather, we are now full swing into unsealed and sealed pavement works. We have approximately 50kms of road to reseal in the 2022/23 season.

If you live in Poutō or have gone for a drive down recently, you will have seen some of the wharf construction taking shape.

New toilets at Alamar Crescent are ready for the public to use in time for Mangawhai’s busy summer season. 

Our roading team made the most of the warmer, drier weather that came our way in September.

Physical works for Poutō wharf have begun. Earlier in the month, Waikaretu marae led a blessing ahead of construction starting.

Kaipara District Council staff are asking Mangawhai house owners and residents on the wastewater system to flush water through their drains, toilets and showers and prevent gases from backing up into their homes.

The second phase of the Mangawhai shared path cranks up construction next month, and includes a collaboratively designed boardwalk running alongside the causeway.

August brought a welcome reprieve from the wild weather and storm events of July. A total of 3,100 individual work items were completed throughout August.

An update on the Kaihu Valley Trail including fencing progress, funding and latest finds along the trail.

A Mangawhai Wastewater Treatment Plant Advisory Group (MAG) is helping to guide a future strategy for the growing town’s wastewater disposal.

A blessing event carried out with Te Uri o Hau iwi representatives earlier this week signalled the completion of the first phase of the Mangawhai shared path works.

Work to construct Poutō wharf is set to begin shortly.

The first part of a multi-phase project to manage Council’s water and wastewater asset network more efficiently and improve its resilience is complete.

Wild, wet and windy weather kept crews busy in July. A total of 3,358 individual work items were completed throughout the month. 

Last week saw the first of the pre-cast concrete slabs for Mangawhai’s new wastewater balance tank carefully craned into place.

Government sources estimate that between $120 and $185 billion dollars of investment in three waters (drinking water, waste water and storm water) infrastructure will be needed over the next 30 years to improve the quality of our drinking water and wastewater and stormwater management, across New Zealand.

Maintenance activities have been widespread in June. During this typically wet period, there has been a focus on potholing, running metal and completing grading work.

Kaipara District Council’s operations and maintenance switches over to a new contractor next month.

Pop into Dargaville Museum to see their latest display on the development of the Kaihu Valley Trail.

In the bowels of Kaipara’s wastewater networks, rag monsters and fatbergs are causing havoc and costing ratepayers' money.

In May, we saw some great progress happening across the district. Sealed pavement rehabs are now complete, and the unsealed network has received the last of the PGF/IRG funding. 

Find out about the new wharf at an information drop-in session 3 July 2022. 

With the courtesy crossings for phase one now complete, the Mangawhai shared path team and contractors got the spades and mulch out and ticked off the planting, getting the final shrubs and trees in the ground last week.

The project to install a new toilet at Lincoln Street Reserve is a step closer to completion with the new facilities delivered to site last week.  

Amendments to Kaipara District’s Speed Limits Bylaw were unanimously passed at the May Council Meeting, resulting in new speed limits in the Mangawhai – Kaiwaka (including Hakaru) and Kaiwaka West (including Oneriri Road and Oruawharo Road) areas. 

A new balance tank for Mangawhai's wastewater treatment plant is one step closer to completion, with the first pre-cast concrete slabs poured for the tank structure.

April’s relatively calm weather meant that Kaipara’s roading team could focus on jobs carrying over from previous months, and complete work on this year’s sealed pavement rehabs, unsealed heavy metal sites, and footpath kerb and channel renewals before the wet winter weather sets in.

Work is underway to implement new speed limits in the Mangawhai – Kaiwaka (including Hakaru) and Kaiwaka West (including Oneriri Road and Oruawharu Road) areas.

Projects to install new toilets in Mangawhai and Maungaturoto reached milestones recently, as the new facilities were delivered to their sites.

Elected Members have unanimously approved paying the forecasted $265,000 project shortfall for Poutō wharf, funded from the district’s financial contributions reserves.

Check out the latest happenings on the Kaihu Valley Trail progress, including the discovery of some railway artefacts.

Works to improve the sewer pipe network in Dargaville is scheduled to begin on 19 April 2022.  

The Environment Court has given the green light to Mangawhai Central’s Private Plan Change 78 (PPC 78) to the Kaipara District Plan.

On Monday 28 March, Mangawhai Community Park’s new toilets were formally opened with a blessing at the Historic Village.

Two new footbridges were opened at a double ribbon-cutting ceremony in the Kaipara township of Kaiwaka on Saturday 26 March.

We are aware some Maungaturoto residents have recently experienced events of low pressure or in some instances disrupted water supply to their properties.

Harvesting is underway across the Kaipara Water demonstration sites. 

Ongoing COVID-19 restrictions and other delays to the programme have inevitably slowed the Poutō wharf project, but the team have made progress and are now working through the tail end of the developed design.

Work to build two new footbridges in Kaiwaka is entering its final stages. The footbridges provide a safer link for pedestrians to cross the river, improving connectivity for the Kaiwaka community.

The Waiatua Dam (on Opanake Road) may be the solution to end the Dargaville and Baylys Beach water shortages, according to a preliminary investigation, commissioned by Kaipara District Council. 

Kaipara roading teams have been putting their time to good use during the dry season, preparing for autumn when the damper conditions enable new road pavement to be properly compacted.

Starting today through to Wednesday 23 February a short section of Molesworth Drive from the ITM down to Nautical Heights will go down to one lane, with flow managed using traffic lights.

Last week saw the installation of a temporary sign marking the Dargaville entrance of the Kaihu Valley Trail.

The truss is now up on the abutments at the north bridge, with physical construction of the boardwalk starting last week. 

The council is upgrading wastewater systems and is asking people to flush responsibly.

Work is progressing well on the raw watermain renewals in Maungaturoto.

The Council is about to start constructing a balance tank, to increase the capacity of the Mangawhai Community Wastewater Scheme.

Although recent rain has been welcomed by landowners, it is causing headaches for Kaipara District Council’s Raupo stopbank improvement project, in Ruawai.

The second season of road surfacing works commenced in the Kaipara District this month, after 14.4kms was completed in December 2021.

Representatives of the Pahi community met with Council at the wharf last week to work out where a new toilet block could go.

A small gathering, a prayer and a blessing to keep workers safe marked the start of the work on-site for the Kaiwaka footbridges.

Construction for the Pahi wharf upgrade ended as it began months ago, with the sky lighting up slowly on the people gathered together. Voices joined in karakia and waiata, led by kaumatua Hone Martin and representatives of Te Uri o Hau swirled around the Kaipara harbour as a dawn blessing was performed to open the wharf’s gangway and pontoon.

The Kaipara District's roads continue to hold the right balance of moisture and dryness, which has allowed the NTA and Kaipara District Council to complete a lot of roading work this month, including grading on Avoca Rd, Avoca East Rd and Avoca North Rd.

With the border opening there will be increased traffic travelling through both of the worksites. Please remind your visitors ahead of their arrival that these are still active work sites in the lead up to the break – give your friends and family a heads up so they can be prepared for possible travel delays and can plan their journeys accordingly.

A new balance tank and inlet works are to be installed at the Mangawhai wastewater treatment plant to expand the existing hydraulic capacity during the peak summer periods.

Kaipara District Council has adopted a report recommending new speed limits in the Mangawhai and Kaiwaka area. The adoption of this report paves the way for the introduction of lower speed limits this financial year.

A tomo (sinkhole) recently appeared on Gordon Street in Dargaville.

Work to install the Kaiwaka footbridges will start in early January and continue for around seven weeks. With it comes some great employment opportunities for local contractors.

The $8.06M Unsealed Roading Network project that began in May last year, has crossed the halfway mark with completion of the first season’s physical pavement and associated works at a cost of $4.3M to end of October.

With the Christmas holidays soon approaching, there will be some changes to a few Council services.

Extra low tides earlier this month allowed Huband Contractors to work on some of the timber repairs around the lower parts of the tidal stairs.

Kaipara District Council (KDC) has worked with other Northland Councils on a Drought Management Plan (DMP) to create a consistent drought classification system and approach.

Construction work for the new Poutō wharf will begin in 2022.

An onsite blessing will be held by Te Roroa on Friday 12 November to mark the start of construction on the $1.8m Waipoua River Road project.

Over the next few months, our team and contractors will replace approximately 3,000m of ageing raw watermain pipes.

As part of our Long Term Plan, we undertook to explore options to expand the capacity of the Mangawhai Wastewater Scheme to accommodate growth in the area and summer peak flows.

There’s been significant progress on the Village intersection improvements recently. Night works have enabled the programme to see only a small delay in spite of the recent Level 4 lockdown and restrictions.

The Huband crew have been working at the end of the wharf recently, preparing the connection for the new gangway, and replacing pile caps and stringers.

Considerations from Kaipara District about the Three Waters Reforms.

An update on wher ethe roading team will be working across Kaipara in October. 

It’s been a hive of activity down at the Pahi wharf recently. The upgrade has started with local contractors Huband carrying out the carpentry and repair work on the wharf.

Work is about to start on two of four new toilet blocks. 

Kaipara District Council (KDC) began consultation today on a proposed model of representation.

The Council has awarded the contract to design and build the two Kaiwaka footbridges to Bridge It NZ.

Kaiwaka township has seen a number of safety improvements recently, with our team and contractors Ventia busy working along Kaiwaka-Mangawhai Road.

A significant change in the programme for the much-needed Village intersection improvements will see the work finished in early December, ahead of schedule.

The United Civil team are starting to work in the road (Stage Two of their work staging plan), focusing on the area at the western entrance to the Moir Street / Insley Street intersection.

Winter weather has slowed the reconstruction work to upgrade our unsealed roads, but no time is being wasted. Teams are clearing vegetation and drains in preparation for when reconstruction work can start again.

The Kaihu Valley Trail is a 40km walking and biking track being constructed from Dargaville to Donnellys Crossing. It will form part of the Ancient Kauri Trail that extends from Omapere to Maungaturoto and be one of the 23 Great Rides around New Zealand.

A new stormwater network has been installed between 18 – 40 Jervois Street, Dargaville.

Kaipara District Council today endorsed a future-focused Long Term Plan (LTP) which aims to respond to a growing population while caring for the environment and keeping rates increases low. 

A section of Hokianga Road has been a hive of activity recently, with our contractors out busy replacing an ageing stormwater culvert.

Construction work on the Mangawhai Village intersection improvements started this week. 

Nine infrastructure renewal projects are being rolled out across Kaipara District this year. 

Kaipara District Council has developed a new formula for unsealed roads that results in a more durable, and lower maintenance, surface.

Some of the works happening around the District. 

A number of improvements have been made at the Kaiwaka end of Kaiwaka-Mangawhai Road. 

Our Parks team and local contractors Turf Tamer recently completed work by the Kaiwaka River (north eastern side of the bridge).

Two footbridges are to be erected in Kaiwaka, parallel to State Highway 1 and crossing streams at the northern end of the township.

Kaiwaka footbridges will form part of the Kaiwaka walking and cycling network and will reduce severance caused by the state highway and rivers. 

Kaipara District Council has been consulting the community about lowering speed limits in the Mangawhai and Kaiwaka area. 

Kaipara District Council is seeking feedback on proposals to set new speed limits in the Mangawhai and Kaiwaka areas, including the Mangawhai urban area.