Part of Ōhope Beach had to be closed on New Year's Day after a Whakatāne District Council contractor discovered a leaking sewage pipe.

The pipe is one that crosses over a stream by the Wharekura Reserve tennis courts, across the road from Ōhope Beach School, carrying sewage pumped from Ōhope homes to the oxidation ponds in Wainui.

The untreated waste water was pouring directly into the stream whenever the pump was activated.

Water treatment plant team leader Neal Yeates told the Beacon the council had planned to replace the pipe in January with pipes that carry the sewage below the stream, so it was unlucky that it burst when it did.

The patched sewage pipe crossing the stream at Wharekura Stream is soon to be replaced with an underground pipe. Photo supplied.

Mr Yeates and other council staff were able to repair the pipe on New Year's Day and a health warning was placed on the stream and the beach between Rurima Reserve to the west of the leak and the Waterford Estate to the east until further notice.

Whakatāne District Council has placed signs in the affected area urging people not to swim, fish or collect shellfish in the area. Testing is being carried out daily in anticipation of being able to lift the warning.

-Public interest journalism funded through NZ On Air.