Thursday, January 11, 2018
A LAKE of water forms at Motu Trails during the storm that hit the Eastern Bay last week, and is an ongoing problem. Photo Sven Carlsson OB4106-03
THE Opotiki District Council has commented on the ponding issues written about in Tuesday’s Opotiki News.
Owners of the Motu Trails business in St John Street and the Opotiki Holiday Park reported that “lakes” had formed in relation to last week’s storm.
District council assets engineer Anthony Kirikiri said the lake created near the holiday park was not a storm event, but it affected the paddock next to the holiday park.
“This was due to the controlled opening of the flood gate to flush Tarawa creek to alleviate the odour emitting from the storm water drains near the CBD area,” he said.
“To our knowledge no persons or businesses were affected, but it did come close to the boundary fence of the holiday park.”
Mr Kirikiri said the lake that formed during the latest storm at the Motu Trails site was a continuing problem that had occurred for the past 20-plus years.
The council had recently installed a storm water pump station that was working at maximum capacity when the floodgate to the Otara River closed.
“Unfortunately, the flood pump will never beat the ponding issues that occur in this area but it will get rid of the ponding faster,” Mr Kirikiri said.
“The outlet through the stop bank is only minimally lower than the ground level inside the Motu Trails and motorhome parking area.”