After months of problems with overflowing toilets at Hank Edwards Reserve, today the fix. Contractors are digging out the clogged up dispersal field and replacing it with fresh fill, fresh pipes and a breathable plastic that allows moisture to evaporate out while keeping sand and other debris from falling in.
Some in the community may know when the toilet block was built (let us know in a comment), but it seems it’s around 50 years old.
The dispersal field has naturally accumulated ‘grunge’ and has clogged up.
It may be that the 50-year old dispersal field techniques just don’t work any more, or it may be the dynamic conditions here: next to the river, occasional flooding, a variable water table, greater use over summer and less over winter, the iron in the bore water. Probably all have worked together and now it’s just time for maintenance and repair.
Fortunately such maintenance can be done without needing lengthy and expensive resource consents, and winter is a good time to do it.
The contractors should be able to complete their work today. They’ll aim to leave the Reserve in as good condition as they can, but the nature of the work means some damage to the grounds. There may be further ground repair to come.
these toilets were in active use by 1970.
Usual residence: Other