Central city leaks gush while office workers put their feet up

Tuesday, 9 January 2024

A water leak on Featherston Street outside Leuven Bar had tourists and workers alike going to lengths to avoid the gushing water over the holiday break.

Two big leaks have been gushing water over footpaths on Lambton Quay and Featherston St over the holiday break, forcing pedestrians to hop, jump, or sidestep the streams.

It’s a situation Lambton Quay business owner Jean-Jacques Nakouzy of Jean-Jacques Hair Studio says is “embarrassing.”

“I see people taking photos of the leak all the time. People try to avoid it when they walk and when they come in, they’re just shocked that it’s so bad.

“It’s sad because this is Wellington. We are the capital city and we should be leading the country with things like this.”

Nakouzy said the leak on Lambton Quay had been there since before Christmas and had gotten progressively worse with nothing being done about it.

A leak on Lambton Quay soaking a pavement on a bone dry summer’s day.

The second leak was outside the Leuven Bar on Featherston St and while Leuven general manager Ben Revell declined to comment, cruise ship passengers were spotted over the summer break jumping over the stream outside the bar.

The leak on Featherston St was fixed on Monday, the one on Lambton Quay had a simple cone next to it, with water and silt flowing across the footpath.

A commuter on Lambton Quay, Reed Wade, said it was sadly common.

“It is embarrassing but they’re everywhere. They’re all around where I live.

“I look at this one and I just think of how much water has been wasted because they didn’t plan to maintain the infrastructure underneath.”

The latest Wellington Water statistics show that of the 3050 leaks around Wellington, 754 had been fixed in November.

Wellington Water is also warning residents there could be water shortages this summer, and is encouraging people to consider buying water storage tanks.

Running a campaign called ‘Our Wai Can Run Dry’, current restrictions meant residents in Wellington, Upper Hutt, Lower Hutt and Porirua were allowed to use sprinklers only every second day.

Wellington Region Emergency Management Office (WREMO) recommended households had an emergency supply of at least 20L of water per person, per day for seven days (140L per person).