Need for emergency water storage in capital sinks in

Wednesday, 10 January 2024

There were long queues to buy a 200-litre water storage bin at the Tip Shop on Tuesday.

The need for emergency water storage has sunk in for the capital’s residents who waited for hours for a new supply of 200-litre tanks to arrive at Wellington’s Tip Shop.

Michael Mead was the first in line to get his water storage tank after several attempts.

About 100 people queued for up to four hours to get one of the 70 tanks delivered from their Feilding manufacturer on Tuesday.

Wayne Shepherd was second in line to get his tank.

The first person in line, Michael Mead, said this was one of his many attempts to get one.

“People need to take precautions and our councillors over the last 50 years have just lacked the political courage to do something about infrastructure. And this is a result.”

Wayne Shepherd waited at The Tip Shop for almost four hours to get his water tank, saying he wanted to take precautions.

“We have to have these tanks since council and regional council haven’t been able to fix the leaks and 45% of water is being lost through leaks.“

The Tank Guy’s Tony Paraku ties another load of 200 litre tanks onto the trailer for delivery to Wellington from Feilding.

Debbie Purcell said the discount on the tanks - $115 versus the usual retail price of $265 - was one of the main reasons she queued up.

“It’s going to be really tough on businesses and families, especially if there’s not enough of these which are discounted by a significant amount.”

People were allowed to buy only one tank each on Tuesday but more supplies were expected in coming weeks as manufacturing ramps up.

Debbie Purcell said the savings on the council tanks were significant compared to hardware stores

Wellington City Council spokesperson Richard MacLean said far more tanks would soon be on sale.

The water tanks arrive in Wellington from Feilding.

“It's clearly not brilliant that people are standing in the sun for several hours, which is why we're saying to people, there's no need to queue. Just give it a couple of weeks for the manufacturer to catch up.”

The Tank Guy in Feilding, which is making 72 of the 200-litre tanks a day, also supplies councils in Upper Hutt, Lower Hutt and Porirua.

In Porirua there were only 11 tanks up for grabs on Tuesday. Upper Hutt City Council, which is out of stock, expects another 180 tanks to arrive by end of January. It’s sold 456 tanks since October.

Wellington Water is estimating there’s a one-in-three chance of the toughest restrictions - a ban on all outdoor water use and the need to cut indoor water use by up to half - happening, most likely in early February.

But if the region loses its 5% water supply buffer, then a regional state of emergency could be declared. Taps could run dry in some suburbs and anywhere with the water still on would have to reduce use even further.