Wellington Water set to face inquiry after meeting with city council

Thursday, 20 February 2020

A burst pipe on Willis St is one of several wastewater failures Wellington Water has had to address in recent months. (File photo)

Wellington Water looks set to be subjected to an official inquiry over problems with the city's wastewater network.

The development comes after 12 of Wellington City's 15 councillors - including Mayor Andy Foster - put their names to a motion requesting a wide-ranging inquiry into Wellington Water's operations and its relationship with the council.

Those who did not sign were Nicola Young, Diane Calvert and Simon Woolf.

Island Bay was the scene of another burst pipe in February, 2020.

Under city council rules, the matter is now required to go before the council's strategy and policy committee for a vote within the next month.

* Mayor calls meeting over pipe problems

* 'Tsunami of faeces' overwhelming streams

Wellington Water contractors hope to lay a new pipe under Willis St by the end of March, with the closed section of road to open some time after that. (File photo)

* The cost of fixing Wellington's water woes**

Wellington's wastewater infrastructure, which is owned and operated by the council but managed by Wellington Water, has been in the spotlight in recent months after several pipe failures.

Trucks have been taking sludge from the Moa Point treatment plant to the Southern Landfill for the past four weeks after a pipe broke under Mt Albert. (File photo)

The two parties met to discuss the problems on Wednesday, after Foster called for an urgent, closed-door meeting.

Councillor Fleur Fitzsimons, who moved the motion, said residents deserved better than the 'defeatist excuses that have been coming out about our city's infrastructure'.

'Our call for a wide-ranging inquiry is about ensuring that we all know the extent of the problems, how they came about, and how much investment is required to fix the problems.'

Councillor Jenny Condie said Wellington Water had agreed to appear at the next council-controlled organisation's committee meeting on April 8.

That would give the organisation a chance to provide an update on the progress of the inquiry.

Councillor Rebecca Matthews said the ongoing problems were like watching a car crash in slow motion.

Wellington Water has had to address several pipe failures in recent months, including a collapsed underground tunnel which has resulted in a section of Willis St being closed since late last year.

The water company, which is jointly owned by six of the region's local government councils, declined to comment.

Woolf said he was not available to sign the motion, but would have declined to do so because more information was needed.

'I think we should be working with Wellington Water to help them provide some solutions,' he said. 'This isn't very empowering for them and seems a little bit premature and unhelpful.'

Wellington's water network had stood up well to the 2016 Kaikōura earthquake, Woolf said.

Young said the motion was a waste of time given Foster announced on Thursday a mayoral taskforce would be set up to address the problems.

The taskforce would investigate what had led to the current situation and develop an action plan for the council to consider.

Calvert also said the notice of motion was doubling up on the plan announced by Foster on Thursday morning.

'This was just trying to steal the thunder of the mayor's taskforce and it wasn't needed.

'We can do things now, we don't need to wait for a motion to go before the council.'

Greater Wellington Regional Council chairman Daran Ponter said the current problems were the result of more than a decade of under-funding.

Wellington Water manages the regional council's bulk water supply assets, which the council funds through water use levies charged to the region's various local authorities.

Funding for Wellington City's wastewater infrastructure had traditionally not been a priority for the city council, he said.

'There is an 'out of sight, out of mind' quality to all this.

'It's not attractive to fund, it doesn't get you votes. But it is the basics of local government.'

It did not take long for neglected services to falter, as the regional council experienced during its troubled bus network changeover in 2018, Ponter said.