A temporary fix for the Parnell sinkhole is reportedly nearing completion, but there are calls for heads to roll at Watercare.
That's because tons of sewage continue to pour into Auckland's Waitematā Harbour.
Nearly two weeks on from the sinkhole opening in Parnell and raw, untreated sewage is still pumping into Auckland's Waitematā Harbour.
"This would be the worst pollution event we've had in Auckland for almost 50 years," Auckland University marine scientist Professor Andrew Jeffs said.
Prof Jeffs said the damage to people and the environment is historic.
"The worst one before this would have been the ICI fire in 1984 when thousands of litres of toxic material were released into the environment."
The scale of this sewage spill is hard to overstate.
In a statement to Newshub, Watercare said they don't have flow meters measuring exactly how much is leaking but they estimate it's several hundred litres per second.
The Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) and the council are telling locals not to gather fish or eat any seafood from contaminated areas for at least 28 days once the sewage has stopped entering the harbour.
And it's not just calls to pour more money into aging infrastructure.
"We need to be able to invest because if we don't invest, we will have the risk of future overflows of the sort that we've seen," Water New Zealand CEO Gillian Blythe said.
But when asked if heads should roll, Prof Jeffs believes they should.
"Certainly, I think a lot more questions need to be asked of Watercare and its responsibility
to Aucklanders," he said.
"If I thought that this happened as a result of something Watercare hadn't done, well that may be the case, but I'm not convinced that the reason we got the 'tomo' was because there was something wrong with the pipe," Auckland's Deputy Mayor Desley Simpson said.
Warning instead, that more extreme weather events could be destabilising the soil at destructive rates, and the council suggests more checks may be on the cards.
"It may be that the checking of these pipes, if we have a lot of bad weather events continue - that it actually happens more regularly than the five years," Simpson said.
And while Watercare said it's making good progress building a temporary diversion, for Aucklanders, every second that Watercase scrambles - more poo is coming to waters near you.
