Aue te Piro – What's in a Name?

Where our waste is flushed away out of sight through underground pipes it often ends up out of mind. However for those with on-site wasterwater systems, "flush and forget" is not the wisest option.

Overloading the system, lack of maintenance or inappropriate use can result in system failures including bad odours, wastewater overflows and blockages, and negative impacts on our surface and ground waters, all of which can adversely affect the health and wellbeing of our environment, our guests and ourselves.  Many of our marae and rural communities manage their own wastewater on-site and need to design, operate and manage their systems appropriately to avoid problems.

We have called our newsletter “Aue te Piro”, which can be translated as “Oh the Stink”, to provoke your interest and highlight the real world consequences of poor wastewater management.  Aue te Piro will keep you up to date with what’s happening in the collaborative research project that NIWA and marae and community partners are doing to help improve on-site wastewater management.

Some of the wastewater management challenges faced by marae and rural communities include extreme flow variations, ageing infrastructure and increased development pressures.  To safeguard our communities these challenges and issues require attention – sustainable, cost effective and resilient solutions need to be developed.

The second part of our project newsletter title “Te Waipara kia kaua e Paatu ki te Wai Māori” reflects our aspiration to collaborate and work together to find appropriate, sustainable and resilient solutions to the wastewater management issues and challenges facing marae and communities. 

We hope to use this newsletter to raise awareness of on-site wastewater management solutions as well as keep our project partners, other stakeholders and interested parties informed about the work we are doing and the outcomes of this research.

Aue te Piro - No Whea Taua Whakaaro?

Kei te mohio tonu e maha ngā take me ngā wero mo tēnei take me te roa hoki, o te hapori me te Iwi e whae tonu nei he huarahi hei whakarite ēnei āhua ki waenganui ia rātou. Koinei i whakaaro me mahi ngātahi te Iwi me te hapori, kia kore te waipara e paatu ki te Wai Māori.

Kaore noa kua kitea tētahi huarahi hei whai tonū mo tātou engari e kaha tonu te Māori ki te akiaki i o tātou rangatira o te hāpori kia rangahautia he tikanga kia kaua e tuku ngā waipara ki roto i o tātou whanga, awa, rānei.

No reira kōinei e hiahia nei ko ngā tuhinga korero i roto i tēnei pānui kia mahitahi tātou katoa a taea tātou kia kitea he tikanga, huarahi mō te take nei.