Problematic metal remains

Rusting metal a developer blames for flooding an Outram subdivision is still in place at the entrance to a culvert in the town.

After complaining about the issue last month, Fred Doherty said from the site last night  nothing had been done to remove it.

The NZ Transport Agency, which is responsible for the culvert, says it has no control over what washed into it during floods.

The agency said the metal was not "visible or present" at the last inspection, but said any debris would be cleared by contractors in the next fortnight.

Mr Doherty responded late yesterday he had "poked it with a stick" and it was definitely still there.

The metal was evident when the Otago Daily Times photographed it last month.

Mr Doherty, one of the men who developed the subdivision, said then the rusting metal at the entrance to the culvert had caused the problems by trapping debris as it flowed through.The NZTA promised to investigate and respond.

Yesterday, transport system manager Graeme Hall said the culvert was formally inspected — a "close range inspection on the ground with information entered into a database for future and past comparisons" — in November last year.

"Its condition rated at the highest level of integrity and functionality."

It had been visually inspected monthly since then, and been observed to be functioning acceptably.

Mr Hall said the agency’s highway maintenance team visited the site after the July floods and noted  the culvert had been blocked by debris from upstream, likely to have been washed into it during the floods.

"The transport agency has no control over what material is stored or left within or near the upstream flood way, on private land.

"This culvert has proved adequate in dealing with previous flood events and is of a slightly larger capacity that the 750mm culverts installed upstream at the time of the subdivision."

Mr Hall said contractors would clear the culvert within the next fortnight and "we will then have a better idea of the nature of the debris that caused the blockage".

Asked about the rusting metal, maintenance contract manager Nic Rodgers said the culvert had no metal parts.

"If there is any metal obstructing the flow, it has washed in as a result of the floods and will soon be cleared.

"It was not visible or present at the last inspection."

But Mr Doherty spoke to the Otago Daily Times from the site yesterday, and confirmed the piece of metal was still stuck in the culvert.

"I’m standing looking at this culvert and it’s exactly as it was when we first inspected it when the water level dropped.

"There’s been nothing done to it."

Mr Doherty said the pipe was firmly stuck on the ground, and did not appear to have washed in.

He  was keen to get an NZTA representative to the site so he could show them.

david.loughrey@odt.co.nz