Obsolete pipe caused gas cut

Supplied

POWER STRUGGLE: A Powerco gas pipe damaged when the obsolete water pipe burst, causing a gas outage that affected about 1000 customers.

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Wellington

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A Wellington City Council water pipe that failed, flooding the city's gas network and causing a multimillion-dollar outage, was obsolete and meant to be decommissioned years earlier, court documents allege.

Papers filed by energy distribution company Powerco, which is suing the council, say the pipe was not connected to any water customers and its existence was not recorded on council planning records from the 1960s onward.

The council denies ownership of the aging pipe - despite earlier admissions - claiming it was a former private connection for firefighting, separated by a valve from the council-owned network.

If the council loses the case and has to pay damages, it wants water management company Capacity - jointly owned by the Wellington and Hutt city councils - to foot the bill.

The council says it will defend the case, but will not comment publicly.

Powerco is suing the Wellington council for more than $3 million for alleged negligence over last year's gas failure, which crippled the central city and cost millions in lost business.

The water pipe ruptured beneath Bowen St on August 30, slicing through a neighbouring gas pipe and flooding Powerco's gas network with an estimated 60,000 litres of water.

Powerco documents say Capacity identified an underground water leak near the pipe two days before the rupture - but took no action to repair it. Though the council decided to decommission the pipe sometime before the 1970s, it continued to be used for conveyance or containment of water "in bulk at high pressure".

The council and Capacity were negligent in failing to decommission or record the pipe, failing to manage or maintain it adequately, and not giving enough urgency to repairing the leak, Powerco says. It wants an inquiry into its losses and a court order for damages. But papers filed by the council argue that Powerco should have designed its gas network "to adequately address the risk of water leakage or unforeseen pipe failure".

They say Powerco had no contingency measures to isolate or drain flooded parts of its network, delaying the restoration of gas supply. If the court finds the council liable, compensation should be reduced to reflect Powerco's share of responsibility, the papers say.

The council also wants to recover any damages it might have to pay from Capacity, meaning Lower Hutt ratepayers could be forced to contribute.

- © Fairfax NZ News