The ‘infrastructure geek’ in charge of fixing Wellington’s water network

Saturday, 22 July 2023

Tonia Haskell is a self-described “infrastructure geek” but even she admits water is a challenging industry at the moment.

The new chief executive of Wellington Water has been working at the organisation since 2018. She was there at the height of Wellington’s pipes crisis, when a major sewage pipe burst on Willis St, sending 12 million litres of sewage into the harbour.

The problems were a blessing as well as a curse for Wellington Water — they catapulted the pipes to the top of the priority list for most local politicians and increased funding.

Since then, the annual infrastructure programme delivered by Wellington Water has increased from $60 million a year to $260m.

Ramping up the amount of work also meant they could invest in tools and people, Haskell said. Projects to replace pipes on main routes, like Taranaki St, will soon be able to take place underground with minimal disruption, because contractors have enough work in front of them to buy new tools.

Haskell took on the top job because the water business was full of passionate people in a challenging time, she said.

“There’s a lot of uncertainty about water reforms and I wanted to make sure they transition safely. To give them as much certainty as possible and make sure whatever happens, they are in a good space.”

The three waters reforms, which were originally meant to split water services into new entities by mid-2024, have now been pushed back by the Government and could be as late as 2026.

Previous Wellington Water chief executive Colin Crampton has been appointed to lead the proposed “Entity C” — which would encompass Wellington, Wairarapa and Hawke’s Bay.

Haskell said the financial model for Wellington Water was not sustainable without reform.

“Our councils are pushing their ratepayers to the limit in order to fund us … We feel for them in that space. They give us what they can and we work with them to deliver and prioritise.”

This has led to an “uncomfortable position” where Wellington Water does not have the funding or people to keep up with every leak in the region. Instead, they focus on the “big ones” first, based on water loss.

That water loss is leading to another problem for the region: low water supply. Water restrictions are likely to come in earlier and last longer this summer.

Wellington might not have enough water to get through this summer, Haskell said and she was hoping the weather would not be too dry.

“We haven’t got another water source and there’s nowhere else we can pull it from the ground.”

One solution was to build more storage lakes. Another was to introducewater metering, - a “fairly hot topic” for consumers, Haskell said.

Modern smart meters provide real-time updates on a home’s water supply through an app and Haskell believed there were benefits for everyone.

“I can call my teenage daughter and tell her to get out of the shower. But I can also say: ‘That street’s using heck of a lot of water, let's go over there right now because it's clear that something's leaking.’”

Currently Wellington Water does not know whether there’s a leak on private land, because water use is not monitored for each property.

Before her appointment as chief executive, Haskell was responsible for the core business of network development and delivery at Wellington Water.