Crews have worked through Wednesday night blasting water into a blocked sewer main at the bottom of a 13-metre sinkhole in Auckland.
Despite initial success clearing soil and debris from the pipe around 1am, by daylight, the sewer was blocked again.
That meant large volumes of untreated wastewater from central and west Auckland have gone straight into the Waitematā Harbour contaminating inner-city beaches.
Watercare estimates the 2.1 metre diameter brick pipe is about 112-years old.
Watercare chief of operations Mark Bourne spoke to Ingrid Hipkiss.
