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Story: Sewage, water and waste

Building a sewer

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Building a sewer

Workers pose for the photographer in an Auckland Metropolitan Drainage Board sewerage tunnel between Ōkahu and Hobson bays at Ōrākei, Auckland, in 1913. The tunnel was egg-shaped with the narrow end at the bottom. This shape ensured that sewage still moved along the tunnel under a wide range of water flows.

Using this item

Alexander Turnbull Library

Reference: 1/4-012557; F

Permission of the Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand, Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa, must be obtained before any re-use of this image.

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How to cite this page

Christine Dann, Sewage, water and waste – Stinking cities, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/photograph/24434/building-a-sewer (accessed 24 June 2026).

Story by Christine Dann, published 12 April 2010.