A marine ecologist warns the marine life in and around Auckland's Waitemata Habour "will be" affected by the hundreds of litres of raw sewage spilling in every second.
Watercare revealed to AM on Thursday that hundreds of litres of raw sewerage are pouring into the Waitemata every second, that's thousands of litres per minute, hundreds of thousands per hour.
Fishing and swimming are a no go, and several beaches have been closed at time where Kiwis would want to be there the most, during the school holidays.
Watercare has confirmed two points near Auckland’s Port where millions of litres of wastewater is pouring into the Waitematā Harbour, black flags have gone up around many of the surrounding beaches, deemed unsafe to swim.
Marine ecologist Professor Simon Thrush told AM the marine life in the harbour "will be" affected by the wastewater spill, but especially in the backwater areas of the harbour.
"So pushing into Hobsons Bay, areas like that, around the wharfs will see the accumulation of that organic material that will lead to a drawdown of oxygen in the water."
Thrush warns the drawdown of oxygen in the water may result in the "mortality of animals as they run out of oxygen".
He doesn't have concern in the main body of the water because there is enough water to flush and disperse the wastewater out but is worried about the backwaters.
"The backwater, quiet areas where this material will get pushed into as the tide comes in, then we'll start to see areas where oxygen concentrations are dropping. So, fish will be affected by that, but so will the shellfish and all of the other organisms that live in the sea floor."
It all comes after a large hole formed above the Orakei Main Sewer on Monday, causing a significant blockage.
Watercare said they were aware of the sinkhole, or 'tomo', on Monday but said it didn't affect the sewer until Wednesday morning.
It added the 2.1m brick sewer is about 13 metres underground and serves large parts of central and West Auckland.
On Thursday, Watercare's chief operating officer Mark Bourne told AM is could take several days for the issue to be resolved.
"The damaged pip is challenging to fix, it's 13-metres deep which is equivalent to to a four-story building," he said.
"Our highest priority is unblocking the pipeline and returning it to service."
Watch the full video above for more.
