Repairs to a corroded wastewater tunnel in Ponsonby will help improve the water quality in Cox's Creek.

Auckland City water and wastewater utility company Metrowater began work this week to repair a 65-metre tunnel that runs between Turakina Street and Ariki Street, in the Crummer Road area. The tunnel is over 60 years old and has been slowly corroded by contaminants in the wastewater that runs through it.

Metrowater Operations Manager Raveen Jaduram says some untreated wastewater has at times seeped out through the bottom of the corroded tunnel and made its way through the ground and into Cox's Creek. He says Metrowater will solve the problem by putting in a new concrete bedding and then laying a half-round ceramic channel along the tunnel's base.

"The wastewater will flow down the ceramic channel, which will not suffer from corrosion like the original tunnel that was made from concrete. The downstream effect will be that the wastewater will be properly transported. This will reduce the amount of contaminated water that can get into Cox's Creek."

Mr Jaduram expects the work to be finished within four weeks.

Ends

© Scoop Media